GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 


GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 


BY 

iOLIN 

F01.  \UQUA    8UMMEB    SCHOOL   OF 

Pin 

PHYSICAL   EDUCATION 


WITH   AN   INTRODUCTION   BY 

EARL  BARNES 


FREDERIC!; 


GYMNASTIC  PKOBLEMS 


BY 

JAKOB  BOON 

LATE   PROFESSOR    OF    PHYSICAL   EDUCATION,    UNIVERSITY   OF   UTAH; 

FORMERLY    DEAN    OF    THE    CHAUTAUQUA    SUMMER    SCHOOL    OF 

PHYSICAL     EDUCATION;     AND     INSTRUCTOR     IN     THE     NEW 

YORK     AND     NEW     HAVEN     NORMAL     SCHOOLS     OF 

PHYSICAL  EDUCATION 


WITH   AN   INTRODUCTION   BY 

EARL  BARNES 

ILLUSTRATIONS    FROM    PHOTOGRAPHS 


NEW  YORK 

FREDERICK  A.  STOKES  COMPANY 
PUBLISHERS 


Copyright,  1917,  by 
FREDERICK  A.  STOKES  COMPANY 


All  rights  reserved,  including  that  of  translation^ 
into  foreign  languages 


FOREWORD 

At  the  time  of  his  death,  Professor  Jakob  Bolin 
had  completed  the  manuscript  the  contents  of  which 
appear  in  the  following  pages.  It  had  been  his  in- 
tention to  add  other  chapters  and  to  illustrate  and 
publish  the  work,  but  he  died  before  this  could  be 
accomplished.  Dr.  Jay  W.  Seaver,  a  former  col- 
league and  intimate  friend  of  Mr.  Bolin,  took  over 
the  manuscript  with  a  view  to  publishing  it,  but 
within  a  year,  before  the  work  was  under  way,  he 
also  died. 

Feeling  strongly  that  Professor  Bolin's  manu- 
script is  one  of  the  most  important  contributions 
to  the  subject  of  gymnastics  which  has  been  written 
in  English,  we,  as  a  group  of  his  associates  at  the 
University  of  Utah,  thereupon  undertook  the  task. 
With  the  courteous  co-operation  of  the  publishers, 
and  of  Professor  Earl  Barnes,  who  furnished  the 
introduction,  we  are  now  able  to  present  the  book 
to  the  public.  The  illustrations  and  minor  changes 
in  the  text  are  our  own;  for  what  they  lack,  we  alone 
are  responsible. 

We  cannot  refrain  from  taking  advantage  of  this 


vi  FOREWORD 

opportunity  to  express  our  love  and  profound  ad- 
miration for  Mr.  Bolin,  whose  delightful  personal- 
ity and  unusual  professional  attainments  made  him 
admired  and  esteemed  across  a  continent. 


INTRODUCTION 

In  his  pursuit  of  civilization  man  is  continually 
reaching  conditions  which  threaten  to  destroy  him. 
For  protective  covering,  he  substitutes  fashionable 
costumes ;  in  place  of  a  nourishing  diet,  he  develops 
a  sense-commanding  and  overstimulating  course  of 
entertainments  in  eating;  for  healthful  exercise,  he 
substitutes  ease  and  sedentary  habits ;  fresh  air  gives 
way  to  over  heated  and  over  used  interiors.  With 
these  abuses  of  his  physical  life  come  new  diseases ; 
heart  and  kidney  troubles  and  pneumonia  sweep 
away  the  slaves  of  civilization. 

And  for  this  tendency  to  self-destruction  there 
are  but  two  correctives.     One  is  through  Rous- 
jau's  return  to  nature,  and  the  other  is  through 
tore  civilization,  more  intelligently  conceived  and 
executed.     When  we  have  built  our  house  so  well 
lat  it  not  only  shuts  out  the  storms  but  also  the 
?resh  air,  then  we  must  either  tear  down  the  house 
set  up  an  engine  in  the  basement  and  force  fresh 
lir  through  the  rooms.     It  is  clear  that  for  men 
lere  is  no  going  back  in  civilizational  development. 
rothing  could  be  more  artificial  than  for  a  civilized 

vii 


viii  INTRODUCTION 

man  to  return  to  the  woods.  Once  under  way,  we 
must  go  on  to  higher  levels  or  perish. 

The  most  far  reaching  of  all  the  evil  consequences 
of  our  civilization  gather  around  our  artificial  ac- 
tivities, and  lack  of  activity.  Our  bodies  have  not 
had  the  development  that  comes  through  out-of- 
door  work  and  play  in  childhood;  and  in  maturity 
we  live  in  mines,  factories  and  libraries.  Not  only 
the  bony  framework  and  the  muscular  system  suf- 
fer, but  all  the  more  delicate  machinery  of  diges- 
tion, circulation  and  respiration  is  disturbed  and 
impaired.  The  nervous  system,  being  badly  nour- 
ished, fails  to  do  its  best  and  man  faces  destruction. 

The  corrective  for  this  condition  lies  in  gymnas- 
tics. Vacations,  walks,  golf,  tennis,  riding  and  the 
like  will  help  maintain  physical  vigor  but  they  are 
only  lunches  and  refreshments  taken  between  meals. 
Well-considered  gymnastics  must  make  the  physi- 
cal diet  of  modern  man.  The  body  must  have  reg- 
ular exercises  if  it  is  to  be  kept  in  its  best  estate. 

With  children,  this  is  especially  true.  Their 
bodies  are  to  be  shaped  and  developed  on  lines  of 
efficient  action.  They  are  to  be  strained  and  tough- 
ened into  their  full  power  of  resistance.  Incipient 
weakness  or  malformation  must  be  detected  and 
corrected.  Everyone  knows  this,  but  how  slowly 
do  we  respond  to  our  knowledge!  This  is  partly 


INTRODUCTION  ix 

because  the  training  of  a  sound  and  beautiful  body 
is  no  simple  task.  It  requires  profound  knowledge 
of  anatomy  and  physiology,  with  skill  in  devising 
exercises  that  will  give  the  maximum  of  training 
with  the  minimum  of  waste  and  danger. 

Just  now,  when  all  the  world  is  facing  war  and 
the  need  of  the  physical  efficiency  that  makes  sue- 
cessful  armies,  this  book  should  make  an  especial 
appeal  to  America.  For  military  preparedness,  we 
must  have,  in  the  first  place,  a  country  worth  fight- 
ing for,  and  in  the  second  place,  strong  men  and 
women.  Military  drill  and  munitions  can  be  pro- 
vided if  a  nation  has  ideals  and  men.  Gymnastics 
will  give  the  best  of  military  preparedness,  with  the 
minimum  of  disturbance  to  our  peaceful  ideals. 

We  have  no  one  in  America  better  prepared  to 
write  on  this  subject  of  gymnastics  than  was  Mr. 
Jakob  Bolin,  the  author  of  this  volume.  He 
brought  to  the  task  a  most  thorough  training  in 
anatomy  and  physiology,  through  his  study  in  Swe- 
den which  he  extended  and  perfected  with  each  year 
of  his  life.  In  his  work  in  America  he  trained 
thousands  of  teachers  who  revere  his  name,  while  in 
his  Institute  in  New  York,  he  dealt  with  every  form 
of  physical  defect,  requiring  ever  fresh  considera- 
tion and  special  treatment. 

His  thinking  was  always  scientific,  in  the  best 


x  INTRODUCTION 

sense  of  the  word.  He  spared  no  pains  in  deter- 
mining facts,  and  no  theory  could  stand  in  the  way 
of  a  fact.  With  the  facts  in  hand,  he  set  to  work  to 
realize  all  that  was  possible.  No  labor  was  too 
great  for  him ;  and  his  standard  of  achievement  was 
always  as  far  ahead  as  he  could  see.  He  was  a  sci- 
entific humanist ;  and  these  pages  from  his  pen  will 
be  eagerly  prized  by  all  who  knew  him,  and  will 
make  those  who  did  not  know  him  regret  that  he 
wrote  so  little. 

EARL  BARNES. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I  OUR  AIM 1 

II  THE  PRINCIPLE  OF  GYMNASTIC  SELECTION  ...  23 

III  THE  PRINCIPLE  OF  GYMNASTIC  TOTALITY  ...  57 

IV  THE  PRINCIPLE  OF  GYMNASTIC  UNITY  ....  73 

V  THE  COMPOSITION  OF  THE  LESSON 81 

VI  PROGRESSION 97 

VII  GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS  OF  METHOD  .  ,135 


xi 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

Jakob  Bolin Frontispiece 

FOLLOWING 
FIG.  PAGE 

1.  A  simple  movement  of  the  upper  arms  in  the  plane 

of  the  shoulders 6 

2.  Common  bad  form  in  the  "wing"  position  ...        6 

3.  A  corrective  exercise  with  the  upper  arms  in  the 

plane  of  the  shoulders 14 

4.  Unless  care  is  exercised,  the  elbows  and  head  are 

likely  to  be  carried  forward 14 

5.  A  simple  position  involving  static  activity  in  the 

dorsal  region 22 

6.  Errors  of  form  commonly  seen  when  an  attempt 

is  made  to  assume  the  position  indicated  in  Fig.  5     22 

7.  A  type  of  activity  effective  in  preventing  abduc- 

tion of  the  shoulder  blades 30 

8.  If  the  elbows  and  shoulder  blades  are  allowed  to 

move  forward,  the  activity  indicated  in  Fig.  7 
becomes  of  little  value 30 

9.  The  back  muscles  are  strengthened  and  shortened 

by  efforts  to  incline  the  body  forward  from  the 
hips 38 

10.     Maintaining  the  arms  upward  intensifies  the  action 

indicated  under  Fig.  9 38 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

FOLLOWING 
FIG.  r^E 

11.  The  back  muscles  are  strengthened  and  shortened 

by  arching  the  body  backward  while  lying  prone     46 

12.  Maintaining  the  arms  upward  intensifies  the  action 

indicated  under  Fig.  11. 46 

13.  Abduction  of  the  shoulder  blades  commonly  seen 

in  exercises  involving  the  "reach"  position  .      .      54 

14.  Trunk  bending  forward  in  which  all  of  the  verte- 

bral joints  participate  is  detrimental  to  the  best 
results 60 

15.  Pronounced  tension  of  the  tissues  in   front  with 

shortening  of  the  back  muscles 68 

16.  A   "tense  bending"   secures  static  activity  in  the 

shoulder  region,  and  the  ribs  spread  out  fanlike 

in  front 74 

17.  A  type  of  activity  having  opposite  results   from 

those  which  usually  prompt  its  use  ....      82 

18.  Strong  activity  of  the  pectoral  muscles  to  protect 

the  shoulder  joint 88 

19.  The  muscles  of  the  back  which  need  strengthening 

are  inactive,  while  the  anterior  muscles  oppose 
the  strain 94 

20.  The  wand  acts  as  a  brace  to  overcome  which  the 

pectoral  muscles  contract 100 

21.  Pectoral  activity  often  mistaken  for  dorsal      .      .106 

22A.     When  the  weight  is  passively  suspended,  the  exer- 
cise has  practically  a  negligible  value     .      .      .112 

22B.     The  bony  framework  of  the  shoulder  girdle  as  in- 
fluenced by  passive  suspension 112 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

FOLLOWING 
FIG.  PAGE 

2 3 A.     An  active  suspension  of  body  weight.     Compare 

with  Fig.  22A 120 

23B.  The  bony  framework  of  the  shoulder  girdle  as  in- 
fluenced by  active  suspension.  Compare  with 
Fig.  22A 120 

24.  If  the  elbows  are  bent  in  the  shoulder  plane,  chest 

elevation  and  expansion  result 126 

25.  Chest  depression  is  brought  about  by  the  ordinary 

"chinning" 126 

26.  In  arm  bending  from  postures  of  this  type,  the 

elbows  should  be  kept  in  the  shoulder  plane     .    134 

27.  The  activity  loses  most  of  its  value  if  the  scapulae 

are  abducted  and  elbows  carried  forward   .      .134 

28.  A  writing  posture  which  should  result  from  gym- 

nastic training 142 

29.  A  writing  posture  commonly  seen.     Compare  with 

Fig.   28 142 

30.  A  type  of  activity  in  which  the  ribs  are  held  ele- 

vated while  the  abdominal  wall  is  strengthened  148 

31.  If  the  feet  are  not  firmly  fixed,  an  attempt  to  sit 

up  curls  the  body  forward 154 

32.  When  the  prone  body  rests  upon  hands  and  feet, 

the  lumbar  curve  often  becomes  exaggerated      .    162 

33.  Contraction  of  the  abdominal  muscles  corrects  the 

error  of  form  shown  in  Fig.  32 162 

34.  The  beneficial  effects  of  trunk  bending  backward 

are  lost  unless  it  is  performed  correctly.     Com- 
pare with  Fig.  15 162 


GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 


GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

CHAPTER  I 

OUR   AIM 

IT  shall  be  my  privilege  to  formulate  more  or 
less  definitely  certain  problems  in  the  work  of  the 
teacher  of  gymnastics  and  to  point  out  the  direc- 
tion in  which  I  see  their  solution. 

To  do  so  it  is  necessary  first  to  take  a  rapid  glance 
at  the  place  which  gymnastics  is  supposed  to  fill  in 
our  time,  or,  in  other  words,  to  establish  what  the 
aim  or  aims  may  be  of  its  introduction  in  our  lives. 

Note,  then,  that  our  profession  is  born  at  a  com- 
paratively late  period  of  social  evolution.  It  is 
a  product  of  a  comparatively  high  civilization,  of 
a  rather  complex  life.  The  lower  the  civilization, 
the  simpler  the  life  we  lead,  the  more  easily  do  we 
fit  into  the  environment,  reacting  properly  to  its 
stimuli,  and  the  less  need  there  is  of  any  par- 
ticular preparation  or  education  in  any  direction. 
The  preparation  which  the  individual  needs  he  gets 

incidentally  from  his  mode  of  life.     It  is  a  natural 

i 


2*:          GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 


training,"  which*  tends  to  make  of  him  more  or  less 
of  an  automaton,  reacting  unerringly,  and  more  or 
less  unconsciously,  to  the  influence  of  the  environ- 
ment, very  much  as  a  bear  cub  or  a  young  chicken 
does.  This  natural  training  gives,  however,  small 
power  of  adaptation  to  changes  in  the  environment. 
The  automaton  acts  well  within  certain  well  de- 
fined limits,  but  it  fails  when  new  modes  of  reac- 
tion are  required  daily  and  hourly,  because  of  the 
complex  nature  and  everchanging  character  of  the 
environment.  Then  there  seems  the  necessity  of 
introducing  artificial  means  by  which  the  individual 
learns  to  adjust  himself  to  the  great  variety  of  the 
conditions  surrounding  him,  and  to  choose  con- 
sciously or  unconsciously,  among  many  possible  re- 
actions the  one  which  is  best  adapted  to  meet  both 
present  and  remote  conditions.  Education  is  the 
artificial  means  invented  by  man,  as  a  reasoning 
being,  to  supply  the  needs  which  natural  training 
cannot  supply.  Gymnastics  is  the  most  artificial 
and  formal  part  of  physical  education,  and  is  the 
last  part  to  make  its  appearance.  When  life's 
duties  become  chiefly  intellectual;  when  the  physi- 
cal activity  is  taken  out  of  it ;  when  the  individual 
becomes  confined  to  canons  of  brick  and  mortar  in- 
stead of  being  able  to  roam  over  hill  and  vale ;  when 
he  becomes  tied  to  a  machine  or  an  office  desk,  in- 


OUR  AIM  3 


stead  of  making  his  living  by  stalking  the  deer; 
when  he  hugs  the  stove  and  uses  artificial  light  to 
dispel  the  gloom  created  by  himself,  instead  of  bask- 
ing in  the  sun  with  the  winds  playing  freely  around 
him;  when  he  finds  that  his  gains  in  many  direc- 
tions are  bought  by  a  loss  of  something  in  other  di- 
rections ;  and  when  he  comes  to  the  conclusion  that 
the  loss  is  due  to  the  decrease  in  physical  activity; 
then  he  does  not  turn  to  gymnastics  as  a  help.  He 
instinctively  tries  to  return  to  his  natural  ancestral 
life.  He  goes  tramping  through  the  woods,  as  his 
forefathers  before  him,  in  search  of  game.  He 
goes  fishing,  hardly  expecting  but  always  hoping  to 
catch  something.  He  is  not  a  fisherman,  but  a 
sportsman.  It  is  not  the  fish  he  wants.  He  can 
buy  them  cheaper.  He  wants  the  joy  and  the  pleas- 
ure, the  relaxation  and  the  excitement,  the  change 
of  activity  from  intellectual  sensory  to  intellectual 
motor.  He  takes  his  vacations  in  the  mountains  or 
at  the  seashore.  He  roughs  it.  He  doff s  the  garb 
of  civilization  to  commune  with  Nature. 

But  measures  like  these  are  sporadic  and  unsatis- 
factory. They  are  costly  in  time  and  money.  The 
virgin  forests  fall  by  the  woodsman's  ax.  The  fields 
are  taken  up  by  the  farmers.  The  beaches  are  filled 
with  summer  resorts,  vying  with  the  cities  in  their 
artificiality.  He  is  everywhere  met  with  signs 


4  GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

warning  him  of  "No  trespassing  here,"  "Keep  off 
the  grass."  He  finds  it  more  and  more  impossible 
to  be  natural  in  his  activities,  and  seeks  a  substitute 
in  plays  and  games  of  olden  times,  perhaps  modified 
to  be  within  his  easy  reach.  He  invents  new  ones 
to  suit  the  contingencies  of  his  life.  He  plays 
football,  golf,  tennis,  goes  rowing  or  canoeing. 
But  civilization  means  evergrowing  urbanization. 
The  necessary  facilities  for  indulging  in  these  sports 
become  more  and  more  inaccessible  to  an  evergrow- 
ing percentage  of  our  population.  The  games  are 
played  less  frequently,  and  at  greater  expenditure 
of  time  and  money.  Then  the  citizen  begins  to  feel 
that  the  physical  activity  which  he  craves  must  be 
brought  directly  into  his  home  or  office,  or  at  least 
next  door  to  him.  He  also  demands  that  it  shall 
be  concentrated  and  regulated  so  as  to  affect  him 
most  favorably  in  the  briefest  possible  time.  He 
cannot  afford  to  rely  upon  chance.  He  wants  the 
matter  studied,  systematized,  formulated,  so  that 
he  may  gain  with  reasonable  certainty  just  the  ef- 
fects most  desirable  to  him.  Gymnastics,  the  most 
formal  and  artificial,  the  most  systematized  of  all 
branches  of  physical  training,  enters  to  fill  the  needs 
of  the  citizen  in  a  highly  organized  community. 

So  I  picture  to  myself  the  racial  development  of 
gymnastics.     And  as  everywhere  else  we  find  a  re- 


OUR  AIM  5 

capitulation  of  its  essential  features  when  we  con- 
sider the  individual.  The  infant's  play  is  essen- 
tially the  instinctive  reaction  to  the  environment. 
The  form  of  the  movements,  their  intensity,  their 
speed,  their  sequence,  are  determined  by  extraneous 
circumstances,  not  by  the  reasoning  powers.  Any 
change  in  the  conditions  brings  immediate  corre- 
sponding varieties  in  the  activity.  That  is  the 
natural  training  period.  But  the  child  grows  and 
enters  into  communion  with  his  kind,  becomes  a  part 
of  the  community,  and  begins  to  reason.  When 
his  unregulated  activity  comes  in  contact  with  that 
of  others,  the  activity  of  all  becomes  subjected  to 
direction  of  reason.  The  immediate  interests  of 
one  become  subordinated  to  those  of  all,  division  of 
labor  appears,  rules  are  formulated,  to  which  each 
submits,  and,  because  of  which,  each  inhibits  his 
activity  in  one  direction  in  order  to  supply  it  more 
particularly  in  another.  There  is  a  gradual  transi- 
tion to  the  highly  organized  games,  many  of  which 
resemble  primitive  man's  vocations,  hunting  and 
warfare.  The  organization  grows  more  and  more 
complicated,  the  division  of  labor  is  carried  farther 
and  farther.  The  general  training  disappears,  a 
onesided  one  takes  its  place.  And  the  individual 
finds  the  necessity  of  supplementing  his  onesided 
training  in  one  direction  by  onesided  training  in 


6  GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

another  direction.  Sooner  or  later  the  young  man 
or  the  young  woman  lands  in  the  gymnasium  to  find 
in  its  artificial  methods  a  substitute  for  nature's 
training. 

I  thus  emphasize  the  artificiality  of  gymnastics. 
This  does  not  signify  its  inferiority  to  the  so-called 
natural  methods.  Far  from  it.  Difference  is  not 
inferiority.  There  are  certain  benefits  coming  from 
physical  activity  which  are  secured  very  much  bet- 
ter and  more  easily  by  other  methods  of  training 
than  by  gymnastics.  But  the  much  vaunted  su- 
periority of  the  so-called  "Nature's  own  way"  is 
much  exaggerated.  Those  who  make  the  distinc- 
tion between  the  artificial  and  the  natural,  that  the 
former  is  always  bad,  the  latter  always  good,  are 
making  a  grievous  mistake.  To  be  logical  they 
should  condemn  civilization  itself,  because  civiliza- 
tion is  artificial.  It  is  natural  to  tell  the  time  by 
the  position  of  the  sun.  It  is  artificial  to  use  a 
watch.  But  the  latter  is  more  precise.  The  trou- 
ble seems  to  lie  in  a  confusion  of  the  terms  artificial 
and  unnatural.  In  many  features  our  civilization 
is  unnatural.  But  these  are  unessentials.  All  the 
essentials  are  natural,  in  accord  with  the  results 
of  Nature's  own  laws.  The  raw  material  springs 
from  Nature  unaided,  the  finished  product  is  the 
result  of  reason  applied  to  Nature's  product.  The 


FIG  1. 

A   simple   movement   of   the   upper   arms   in   the    plane   of   the 
shoulders.     (See  page  35.} 


FIG  2. 
Common  bad  form  in  the  "  wing "  position.     (See  page  36.) 


OUR  AIM  7 

same  relation  holds  good  in  physical  training. 
Tracking,  felling  and  bringing  home  a  deer  is  a 
kind  of  raw  material  of  physical  activity.  Gym- 
nastics is  the  selection  of  the  raw  material,  its  com- 
bination in  various  ways,  its  polishing  until  the 
natural  product  is  made  more  suitable  for  the  needs 
of  civilized  man. 

What  are  these  needs?  Why  do  people  gener- 
ally take  to  some  form  of  exercise?  Why  do  they 
go  walking,  bicycling,  or  horseback  riding,  when 
they  do  not  need  it  for  getting  from  one  place  to 
another?  Why  do  they  play  tennis  or  golf? 

Why  do  they  frequent  the  gymnasia?  And,  by 
all  means,  why  do  so  many  profound  thinkers  urge 
the  necessity  of  supplying  our  school  children  with 
physical  activity  of  this  and  other  kinds?  This 
last  question  is  important  because  its  answer  may 
not  coincide  with  the  answers  to  the  former  ques- 
tions. The  individual  who  turns  to  physical  ac- 
tivity, not  because  of  any  knowledge  on  the  subject 
but  simply  because  of  an  indistinct  feeling  or  de- 
sire for  it,  may  be  able  to  give  us  hints,  but  it  is 
those  who  have  given  deep  thought  and  careful  con- 
sideration to  the  subject  to  whom  we  must  turn  for 
definite  information. 

The  former  will  probably  tell  us  that  he  looks 
for  recreation,  for  relief  from  strenuous  mental  ac- 


8  GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

tivity,  for  pleasure,  for  joy,  and  because  it  is  a  mat- 
ter of  general  experience  that  at  least  a  certain 
amount  of  physical  activity  is  necessary  for  the 
maintenance  of  physical  health  and  vigor,  and  that 
his  sedentary  life  does  not  give  him  enough  of  it. 

The  student  will  speak  of  these  two  points  as 
desirable  in  the  highest  degree.  He  will  tell  us 
that  "all  work  and  no  play  makes  Jack  a  dull  boy." 
He  will  point  out  that  civilization  has  tended  and 
is  tending  to  supplant  muscular  labor  at  such  a 
rate  that  not  only  the  professional  man  has  been 
deprived  of  the  vigor  which  comes  from  physical 
activity,  but  the  introduction  of  machinery  has  dis- 
pensed with  the  severer  muscular  labor  also  of  a 
large  number  of  workmen  who  are  now  becoming 
parts  of  the  machines  they  tend,  limited  mainly  to 
pressing  the  button  or  some  other  similar  small 
acts,  and  that  their  general  health  deteriorates  as 
well  as  that  of  the  professional  classes  because  of 
the  small  amount  of  physical  activity.  But  he  also 
tells  us  that  the  reintroduction  of  physical  activity 
into  the  life  of  civilized  man  is  necessary  not  simply 
because  of  the  general  lack  of  such  activity  in  our 
daily  vocation  but  still  more  for  the  purpose  of 
counterbalancing  such  activity  as  still  remains.  He 
will  call  our  attention  not  only  to  the  insufficient 
amount  of  physical  labor  performed  by  our  physi- 


OUR  AIM  9 


cians,  lawyers,  clergymen,  teachers,  business  men, 
and  factory  workers,  to  sustain  health,  but  will  em- 
phasize the  narrow  limits  within  which  the  labor 
of  the  blacksmith,  the  farmer,  the  general  laborer, 
is  confined,  even  though  this  labor  be  prodigious  in 
quantity.  He  will  maintain  that  the  highest  de- 
gree of  vigor  cannot  be  built  merely  on  a  certain 
quantity  of  physical  activity,  but  asserts  that  to 
assure  the  greatest  amount  of  physical  well-being 
the  activity  must  be  harmonious,  distributed  over 
the  whole  physical  man.  He  will  point  out  that 
the  school  curricula  not  only  supply  an  insufficient 
amount  and  too  few  forms  of  physical  activity,  upon 
which  to  sustain  that  degree  of  health  necessary  to 
serve  as  a  solid  foundation  for  education,  but  that 
they  are  deficient  also  in  as  much  as  they  ignore 
the  direct  influence  of  physical  activity  upon  men- 
tal and  moral  development.  He  will  recite  to  us 
the  loss  in  these  respects  which  has  come  when  many 
of  the  educative  duties  of  the  home  in  a  primitive 
community  have  necessarily  been  dropped  with  the 
oncoming  of  more  highly  civilized  stages,  without 
being  taken  up  by  the  school  which  should  naturally 
inherit  them.  The  participation  of  the  child  in 
the  many  duties  of  the  home,  doing  of  chores,  help- 
ing in  supplying  the  family  with  the  means  of  sub- 
sistence, all  that  is  practically  gone  from  the  civ- 


10  GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

ilized  home,  and  with  it  a  wide  gate  to  knowledge 
has  been  closed,  an  educative  means  of  the  highest 
value  has  been  swept  away,  and  nothing  has  come 
to  take  its  place.  Physical  training  in  its  various 
aspects  is  supposed  to  fill  the  vacuum,  at  least  to 
some  extent. 

The  purpose  then  of  physical  training  is  recrea- 
tive, hygienic,  in  both  a  general  and  a  special  sense, 
and  educative. 

It  is  self-evident  that  though  the  general  pur- 
pose of  physical  training  has  many  aspects,  all  of 
which  should  be  duly  considered  by  those  who  are 
in  charge  of  the  work,  one  or  the  other  view-point 
may  become  of  paramount  importance  in  certain 
classes.  It  is  also  self-evident  that  the  great  va- 
riety of  physical  activity  at  our  disposal  makes  it 
possible  to  vary  the  means  employed,  so  that  dif- 
ferent procedures  which  more  readily  yield  recrea- 
tive results  may  be  used  when  recreation  is  the 
main  object  in  view,  while  others  more  effective  in 
a  hygienic  sense  should  attract  our  attention  under 
different  conditions. 

Thus  if  I  seek  the  means  best  adapted  for  fur- 
nishing recreation,  all  will  agree  that  for  both  child 
and  adolescent,  and  even  for  adults,  play,  unor- 
ganized or  organized,  takes  the  first  place.  Gym- 
nastics can  and  shall  furnish  recreation,  because 


OUR  AIM  11 

that  is  part  of  the  purpose  of  physical  training  as 
a  whole ;  but  it  would  be  bad  policy  to  give  gym- 
nastics particularly  for  that  purpose  when  other 
and  more  effective  means  are  at  hand.  The  recrea- 
tive aim  of  physical  training  should  be  sought 
mainly  on  the  playground,  if  such  exists  or  can 
be  obtained,  not  in  the  gymnasium  except  when 
conditions  absolutely  prohibit  us  from  applying 
means  by  which  the  most  recreation  can  be  gained 
with  the  least  waste  of  energy. 

The  amount  of  physical  activity  necessary  for 
a  person  engaged  in  exclusively  intellectual  or 
small  mechanical  fields  may  be  supplied  in  many 
ways.  If  you,  like  Gladstone,  have  opportunity 
to  fell  trees,  you  may  well  do  so,  sure  that  thereby 
increased  vigor  will  be  your  reward.  If  you  can 
buy  a  suburban  home  where  you  can  dig,  and  hoe, 
and  serve  as  general  utility  man,  you  will  benefit 
from  it.  If  you  can  get  a  horse  for  a  morning 
ride;  if  you  can  join  a  golf  or  tennis  club;  if  you 
can  indulge  in  any  of  the  many  forms  of  sports 
open  to  persons  of  means  and  some  degree  of  lei- 
sure, then  by  all  means  make  the  investment.  It 
will  pay  good  dividends.  But  for  the  great  ma- 
jority of  people  whose  opportunities  for  these 
forms  of  activity  are  limited ;  for  the  mass  of  school 
children,  who  cannot  pitch  a  ball  on  the  street  for 


12  GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

fear  of  hitting  a  staid  old  citizen  on  the  head,  who 
cannot  run  the  bases  without  bumping  into  a  baby, 
who  have  no  space  to  move  in  large  ways, — for 
these,  for  the  common  people,  for  the  growing  gen- 
eration especially,  the  gymnasium  is,  perhaps  not 
the  best,  but  the  most  convenient  place  in  which 
they  may  have  their  needs  fulfilled.  Gymnastics 
is  not  a  form  of  activity  absolutely  necessary  for 
maintaining  general  health  and  vigor.  It  will  prob- 
ably be  less  prominent  for  that  purpose,  as  parks 
and  playgrounds  come  to  be  universally  recognized 
as  necessaries  of  city  life,  when  we  become  civilized 
enough  to  acknowledge  that  no  man's  life  should 
consist  merely  of  slaving,  sleeping  and  eating. 
The  general  hygienic  purpose  may,  at  least  partly, 
be  gained  by  less  formal  exercise,  but  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  it  is  not  usually  secured  by  these  means  by 
the  majority  of  the  people,  and  the  gymnastic 
teacher  will  be  failing  in  his  duty  if  he  does  not  see 
to  it  that  a  large  amount  of  work  is  accomplished 
in  his  classes,  whatever  the  forms  may  be  that  he 
uses. 

But,  however  important  for  hygienic  purposes 
it  may  be  that  the  individual  has  a  certain  quantity 
of  physical  activity,  quantity  alone  does  not  suffice 
to  secure  the  greatest  possible  vigor.  The  vital  or- 
gans, even  though  healthy,  must  work  under  the 


OUR  AIM  13 

most  economical  conditions.  We  do  not  need  to 
enter  into  detailed  explanations,  for  instance,  of 
the  great  waste  in  energy  expenditure  which  re- 
sults from  that  common  faulty  attitude  which  is 
characterized  by  exaggerated  spinal  curves,  ab- 
ducted shoulder-blades,  and  relaxed  abdominal 
walls.  It  may  perhaps  be  permitted  simply  to 
record  here  the  conviction  that  this  attitude,  so 
prevalent  among  all  classes  and  at  all  ages  is,  per- 
haps, sapping  more  energy  than  any  other  one  fac- 
tor. It  means  lessened  space  for  the  heart  and 
the  large  vessels ;  it  means  a  mighty  decrease  in  the 
respiration;  it  means  the  withdrawal  of  a  large  part 
of  the  influence  of  the  respiration  upon  venous  and 
lymphatic  circulation ;  it  means  a  diminution  of  that 
natural  massage  by  the  diaphragm  and  the  abdom- 
inal walls  from  which  the  abdominal  viscera  should 
derive  benefit;  it  means  the  lack  of  support  nor- 
mally given  these  organs;  it  means,  in  brief,  un- 
favorable conditions  for  practically  all  the  organs 
upon  which  our  nutrition,  circulation  and  elimina- 
tion depend. 

To  prevent  the  development  of  these  unfavorable 
conditions  becomes  one  of  the  most  important 
duties  of  society,  and  physical  training  is  the  proper 
means  for  it.  This  is  our  specific  hygenic  duty. 
But  the  games  and  the  sports  are,  as  a  rule,  unde- 


14  GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

termined  and  general.  The  forms  of  the  move- 
ments are  not  selected  directly  with  a  view  to  their 
effects  upon  the  organism  but  in  order  to  accom- 
plish a  definite  external  task.  The  activity  in  them 
is  of  the  same  general  kind  as  that  in  the  profes- 
sions or  trades.  It  is  mainly  flexor  activities.  And 
games  and  play  and  sports  and  athletics  cannot 
therefore  supply  the  necessary  corrective  influence 
except  in  quantity.  They  themselves  need  to  be 
supplemented  by  corrective  agencies.  I  believe  no- 
body will  gainsay  the  assertion  that  our  athletes 
are  not,  as  a  rule,  particularly  good  models  as  to 
carriage.  An  exception  should  be  made  for  our 
oarsmen,  which  have  in  their  activity  excellent  cor- 
rectives to  other  athletic  and  professional  work. 
With  the  severest  forms  of  competition  eliminated, 
I  believe  rowing  would  be  as  near  an  ideal  exercise 
as  any  one  form  well  could  be.  But  it  is  available 
only  to  the  few,  and  practically  the  only  road  open 
to  us,  if  we  wish  to  secure  to  the  growing  genera- 
tion the  benefits  of  an  erect  carriage,  a  harmonious 
development  with  all  that  it  implies  of  vigor,  effi- 
ciency and  beauty,  is  to  select  particular  formal  ex- 
ercises— gymnastics. 

The  purely  educational  benefits,  which  gymnastic 
training  is  expected  to  furnish,  are  so  manifold,  and 
it  is  in  their  contemplation  that  we  first  become 


FIG.  3. 

A  corrective  exercise  with  the  upper  arms  in  the  plane  of  the 
shoulders.     (See  paye  35.) 


FIG.  4. 

Unless  care  is  exercised,  the  elbows   and  head   are  likely  to  be 
carried  forward.     (8ee  page  36.) 


OUR  AIM  15 

really  aware  of  the  necessity  of  placing  physical 
training  upon  a  broad  foundation. 

But  let  us,  who  deal  with  gymnastics,  be  frank 
enough  to  acknowledge  that  the  formal  training, 
however  valuable  it  may  be  in  this  regard,  can  fur- 
nish very  little  indeed  of  those  benefits  compared 
with  the  less  formal  and  more  spontaneous  exer- 
cises. The  gymnastic  teacher  should  of  course  not 
forget  his  duty  to  help  in  developing  power  of  at- 
tention, in  educating  sense-perception,  in  stimulat- 
ing will,  in  making  each  pupil  fit  to  assume  his  place 
as  an  active  member  of  society  cooperating  with 
others.  If  he  forgets  this,  he  fails  in  one  of  the 
most  essential  features.  But  is  it  not  a  fact  that 
what  our  educators  mainly  ask  from  physical  train- 
ing is  that  it  shall  give  the  pupil  a  better  knowl- 
edge of  and  belief  in  himself,  a  desire  to  overcome 
obstacles  and  defeat  difficulties?  That  physical 
training  shall  steel  the  courage,  make  the  individual 
feel  a  longing  to  be  in  the  midst  of  the  fray,  de- 
velop men  with  initiative  and  aggressiveness,  men 
fit  to  lead  in  any  enterprise,  men  on  whom  we  can 
rely  to  carry  the  civilization  a  step  further,  men  who 
do  not  leave  the  school  or  college  behind  them  on 
the  day  of  graduation  but  who  take  it  with  them  into 
life,  carrying  it  and  the  benefits  of  education  into 
whatever  place  they  may  have  to  fill,  men  of  whom 


16  GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

it  shall  not  sneeringly  be  said  that  their  education 
has  made  them  unfit  for  practical  life,  but  who  must 
be  recognized  as  eminently  practical,  not  in  spite 
of,  but  because  of  their  deeper  learning,  men  who 
not  only  have  been  passively  filled  with  the  wisdom 
of  books,  but  who  have  been  trained  well  in  both 
thinking  and  in  doing.  And  men  of  that  type  are 
not  created  by  formal  activity,  such  as  is  the  chief 
characteristic  of  gymnastics,  even  though  they  may 
be  rounded  off  thereby.  They  are  made  on  the 
football  field,  in  the  shell,  wherever  competition  en- 
ters fiercely,  where  presence  of  mind,  control  of 
the  body  and  dogged  persistence  are  demanded,  not 
where  activity  is  regulated  by  a  commanding  leader, 
or  thumping  on  the  piano,  or  where  each  goes  forth 
to  do  his  stunt  and  then  retires,  but  where  each 
watches  his  opportunity  to  sail  in  with  all  his  might 
when  needed,  where  each  relies  upon  his  judg- 
ment. 

The  particular  aim  of  gymnastics,  then,  the  aim 
which  can  be  gained  by  no  other  branch  of  physi- 
cal training,  is  what  we  have  spoken  of  as  hygienic 
in  a  special  sense,  to  counteract  the  evils  of  one- 
sided activity.  Those  who,  with  me,  so  see  the  main 
object  of  gymnastics  are  frequently  criticized  for 
their  narrowness.  They  would  be  narrow  if  they 
refused  to  see  anything  but  this  circumscribed  field. 


OUR  AIM  IT 

But  the  mere  fact  that  they  distinguish  between  this 
particular  field  and  the  broader  one  of  physical 
training  does  not  make  them  narrow.  It  rather 
guarantees  that  within  that  particular  field  they 
will  do  their  work  far  better  than  if  they  endeavored 
to  gain  results  by  their  work  which  can  be  better 
gained  by  other  means ;  far  better  than  if  they  con- 
found play  with  work:  far  better  than  if  they  en- 
couraged the  one  already  efficient  at  the  expense 
of  the  one  who  is  backward.  May  the  teacher  of 
gymnastics  ever  have  a  clear  and  vivid  conception 
of  the  limitations  of  his  own  work  so  that  he  does 
not  enter  into  fields  which  are  not  his,  dissipating 
his  energy  and  that  of  his  pupils  in  futile  endeavors 
to  gain  that  which  gymnastics  cannot  gain.  But 
may  he  at  the  same  time  remember  that  the  gym- 
nastics is  not  the  end.  It  is  only  one  means  among 
many  for  a  given  end,  the  development  of  citizens 
of  the  highest  order;  citizens  with  a  straight  back 
and  well  poised  head,  to  be  sure,  but  who  need  far 
more  than  that,  who  need  all  that  physical  training 
can  give,  all  that  education  can  give. 

It  is  poor  gymnastics  when  the  teacher  is  unable 
to  furnish  that  which  should  be  brought  forth  by 
the  gymnastic  exercises  better  than  by  any  other 
means.  It  is  poor  gymnastics  when  fun  becomes 
the  chief  end  instead  of  the  condiment  giving  the 


18  GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

necessary  zest.  It  is  poor  gymnastics  when  the 
main  object  is  to  expend  a  certain  number  of  foot- 
pounds of  energy  to  secure  increase  in  cardiac  and 
pulmonary  activity,  without  care  being  taken  that 
these  organs  are  put  under  the  most  favorable  con- 
ditions to  meet  the  increased  demand  upon  them. 
It  is  poor  gymnastics  if  we  strive  to  astound  the 
world  by  nicely  finished  and  smoothly  gliding  com- 
binations of  complex  movements  fit  to  be  put  into 
the  repertoire  of  a  juggler,  or  by  exhibitions  of 
strength  vying  with  those  of  a  Sandow,  if  we  do 
not  take  into  consideration  the  effects  on  the  vital 
functions.  But  poor  as  all  this  is,  poorer  still  is 
the  gymnastics  if  we  forget  that  we  deal  with  hu- 
man beings,  not  with  machines ;  if  we  kill  the  souls 
of  our  pupils  by  formalism  believing  that  we  care 
properly  for  their  bodies,  if  we  act  as  if  we  were 
burdened  down  by  an  overload  of  method  instead 
of  being  guided,  directed,  carried  by  common 
sense. 

It  is  because  of  the  necessity  to  emphasize  this 
broadness  of  view  that  I  consider  it  better  to  speak 
of  developmental  gymnastics,  rather  than  to  use 
the  narrower  terms,  recreative,  hygienic  or  educa- 
tional. 

Physical  activity  of  a  formal  kind  is  used  also 
for  therapeutic  purposes,  to  influence  directly  the 


OUR  AIM  19 


1/J.V 

.c 


I 


J.J. 

1 

\x 


organism  in  regaining  its  harmonious   functions 
when  lost.     And  hygienic  measures  are  curative  in 
a  certain  sense,  and  the  common  forms  of  gymnas- 
tics may  therefore  well  be  considered  in  relation  to 
tual  disease.     But  the  gymnastic  teacher  should 
not  consider  himself  as  a  mechanical  physician, 
ven  if  he  possesses  the  adequate  knowledge,  which 
e  but  rarely  does,  there  comes  the  practical  im- 
possibility to  apply  the  most  effective  therapeutic 
easures  to  classes.     Diseases  cannot  be  treated  in 
holesale.     Each  individual  must  be  considered, 
reatment  must  be  individualized.     That  typical 
efects  prevalent  in   a  large  percentage  of  our 
asses  should  receive  due  attention  is  true,  but  this 
oes  not  vitiate  the  general  statement.     When  a 
ass  of  school  children  present  a  general  picture 
f  Kyphosis,  we  shall  of  course  especially  adapt  our 
means  to  conquer  it,  as  it  is  our  duty  to  prevent  the 
endency  to  this  deformity  common  in  all  classes, 
f  we  have  to  deal  with  a  class  of  nurses  or  sales- 
women, we  may  expect  a  large  percentage  to  have 
weak  or  flat  feet.     Naturally  we  will  then  lay  added 
emphasis  on  suitable  means  to  prevent  or  conquer 
that  deformity.     But  it  is  not  our  duty  to  go 
und  with  an  anxious  eye  to  discover  defects  in 
ach  individual  for  the  purpose  of  curing  them, 
f  our  work  shall  be  directed  to  the  benefit  of  the 


20  GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

great  majority  we  meet,  we  must  adapt  our  means 
to  the  average  normal  individual,  not  to  the  perfect 
one,  but  just  to  the  average  one  with  tendencies  to 
defects  in  many  directions,  but  with  no  developed 
diseases  or  deformities.  Those  who  have  such  de- 
veloped diseases  should  be  weeded  out  from  the  gen- 
eral class  by  suitable  medical  examination,  and  sub- 
jected to  the  treatment  best  adapted  to  them.  One 
of  the  means  may  be  gymnastics,  individual  or  in 
classes.  But  that  is  then  a  specialized  form  that  is 
distinguished  from  the  usual  classwork,  the  consid- 
eration of  which  is  a  matter  distinct  from  the  pur- 
pose of  this  work. 

Persistent  exercise  is  necessary  to  gain  or  main- 
tain that  dexterity  required  in  many  trades  or 
professions.  The  prestidigitator  will  soon  lose  his 
skill  if  he  takes  too  many  days  off.  The  piano 
player  becomes  master  of  technique  only  by  constant 
practice;  the  carpenter  learns  to  hit  the  nail  un- 
erringly, to  plane  the  board  to  a  right  angle,  only 
by  practice;  the  danseuse  must  practise  daily. 
Such  specific  preparation  has  usually  no  connec- 
tion with  our  work,  though  it  may  have.  If  we 
have  to  deal  with  a  class  of  firemen,  for  instance, 
it  seems  but  natural  that  even  though  the  funda- 
mental exercises  were  similar  to  those  used  in  a 
class  of  clergymen,  we  would  in  the  former  case 


OUR  AIM  21 


use  a  number  of  applications  which  would  be  closely 
related  to  the  business  of  the  men.  Many  forms 
of  climbing,  wall-scaling,  and  balancing  at  great 
heights,  might  be  suitable. 

A  considerable  number  of  persons  believe  that  it 
is  our  duty  to  practise  in  the  gymnasium  such  move- 
ments as  exercises  which  all  of  us  might  perform  in 
daily  life.  They  say,  for  instance,  that  everybody 
bends  forward  many  times  each  day.  They  should 
then  be  taught  in  the  gymnasium  to  do  this  with 
the  least  expenditure  of  energy.  Everybody  must 
walk  upstairs  several  times  a  day.  We  should 
teach  them  to  do  this,  so  that  waste  and  injury  be 
prevented.  Everybody  sits  down  on  a  chair  and 
rises  many  times  a  day.  Teach  the  students  to  do 
so  properly.  I  cannot  agree  to  this  view.  If  we 
give  general  power  of  coordination,  if  we  teach  our 
pupils  to  husband  their  resources  and  expend  their 
energy  economically,  we  need  not  make  the  applica- 
tion in  all  the  common  activities  of  life.  We  may 
safely  leave  that  application  to  the  unconscious 
training  of  life.  Our  duty  to  counteract  general 
vicious  tendencies  is  paramount,  not  to  deal  with 
special  cases. 

To  summarize :  Gymnastics,  such  as  we  have  to 
consider,  is  primarily  for  the  hygienic  purpose  of 
creating  correct  habits  of  posture  and  movement,  in 


22  GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

order  that  vigor  may  be  maintained  at  the  highest 
possible  level,  and  of  preventing  the  evils  of  any 
one-sided  activity.  In  doing  this,  we  shall,  as  far 
as  is  possible  without  interfering  with  our  chief  pur- 
pose, furnish  recreation,  correct  common  defects 
and  create  desire  for  activity,  always  furnishing  a 
quantity  of  activity  sufficient  to  maintain  a  high 
degree  of  vigor. 


FIG.  5. 

simple  position  involving  static  activity  in  the  dorsal  region. 
(See  page  35.) 


FIG.  6. 

Errors   of   form   commonly    seen   when    an    attempt   is   made   to 
assume  the  position   indicated   in   Fig.   5.     (See   page   36.) 


CHAPTER  II 

THE   PRINCIPLE   OF   GYMNASTIC   SELECTION 

IN  the  discussion  of  the  benefits  which  we  may 
>asonably  expect  from  physical  training,  we  have 
ilready  seen  that  different  aims  necessitate  the  use 
>f  different  means.     When  our  main  object  is  of 
it  special  hygienic  nature  which  we  have  en- 
leavored  to  define,  we  must  turn  to  the  formal  gym- 
lastics  instead  of  rivetting  our  attention  to  play, 
ics  and  sports,  however  necessary  parts  of  a 
)mplete  physical  training  these  may  be. 
When  we  now  turn  to  a  consideration  of  gym- 
lastics  as  a  part  of  physical  training,  we  imme- 
iately  find  that  a  new  selection  is  necessary.     All 
>ossible  formal  movements  cannot  be  utilized  with 
jqual  benefit.     A  sifting  process  must  be  under- 
iken.     There  is  no  difference  of  opinion  in  this 
jgard.     All  agree  that  the  object  in  view  cannot 
>e  attained  without  a  careful  choice  of  exercises. 

The  principle  of  gymnastic  selection  is  thus  uni- 
rersally  recognized.     But  as  men  differ  as  to  the 
lost  important  aims  to  be  reached,  so  they  natu- 
rally employ  different  means,  and  though  all  sys- 

23 


24  GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

terns  accept  the  principle  of  selection,  the  practical 
application  of  this  principle  varies  according  to  the 
view  point.  He  who  considers  that  gymnastics 
must  first  and  foremost  counteract  and  supplement 
the  daily  activities,  must  differ  in  his  practical  work 
from  him  who  sees  in  gymnastics  a  preparatory 
training  for  these  activities.  There  is  a  strong 
tendency  among  partisans  of  one  system  or  the 
other  to  ascribe  differences  in  procedure  to  the 
ignorance  of  the  opponents,  when  they  in  reality 
are  based  upon  different  conceptions  of  the  funda- 
mental object  of  the  gymnastic  instruction. 

When  we  now  proceed  to  exemplify  the  principle 
of  gymnastic  selection,  we  do  so  with  the  under- 
standing that  the  chief  aim  is  the  special  hygienic 
one,  and  that  our  selection  is  not  binding  on  any 
one  who  differs  from  us  in  this  fundamental  mat- 
ter. To  those  who  do  not  segregate  gymnastics  as 
a  distinct  part  of  physical  training,  with  specific  ob- 
jects which  can  be  gained  better  by  gymnastics  than 
by  the  other  branches,  but  who  believe  that  all  forms 
of  physical  training  fill  exactly  the  same  needs, 
we  cannot  speak  intelligently.  Our  fundamental 
thoughts  differ. 

The  hygienic  effects  being  foremost  in  our  mind, 
external  hygienic  conditions, — proper  air,  light, 
clothing,  sufficient  time  for  the  lessons,  proper  re- 


u 


GYMNASTIC  SELECTION  25 


ation  of  the  hour  of  the  lesson  to  meals  and  sleep- 
ing hours,  to  the  nature  of  the  studies  immediately 
preceding  and  immediately  succeeding  it,  etc.,  etc., 
should  of  course  demand  our  closest  attention.  I 
pass  over  the  matter  here  because  there  is  a  fair 
degree  of  unanimity  in  our  circles  as  to  what  is 
necessary  in  these  regards,  even  if  the  requirements 
are  not  usually  fulfilled.  I  cannot  refrain  from 
saying  that  the  need  for  an  abundance  of  fresh  air 
and  light  should  call  the  gymnastic  teacher  out  of 
doors  with  his  classes  much  more  frequently  than 
is  the  case  as  present.  It  is  not  here  a  question 
of  substituting  out-door  play  for  the  gymnastic  les- 
son; it  is  a  question  of  taking  the  gymnastics  out 
of  doors.  Every  gymnastic  teacher  who  has  at 
his  disposal  a  free  open-air  space,  even  if  it  be  no 
larger  than  his  gymnasium  floor,  should  utilize  it 
whenever  he  is  not  obliged  to  be  indoors. 

The  indoor  gymnastics  should  be  the  exception, 
not  the  rule.  In  southern  England,  Mme.  Berg- 
man Osterberg  has  a  Normal  school  of  physical 
education,  where  all  lessons  are  taken  out  of  doors 
except  on  about  a  dozen  days  each  year,  when  the 
severity  of  the  weather  forces  the  class  under  cover. 
That  is  as  it  should  be.  When  a  Normal  school  has 
such  a  policy,  then  it  becomes  ingrained  in  the  grad- 
uates that  indoor  work  may  be  a  necessary  evil, 


26  GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

sometimes,  but  it  is  always  an  evil.  I  believe  the 
reason  that  we  do  not  have  more  gymnastics  out 
of  doors  is  simply  inertia.  We  are  used  to  the 
routine  indoors,  and  to  break  the  routine  requires 
some  little  energy.  Many  of  us  are  also  so  wedded 
to  particular  forms  of  apparatus,  that  we  fear  to 
work  without  them.  Let  us  work  for  outdoor  gym- 
nasia with  all  the  apparatus  to  which  we  are  habit- 
uated indoors;  but  if  we  cannot  get  them,  let  us 
remember  that  the  only  absolutely  necessary  ap- 
paratus for  good  work  is  the  human  body.  And 
if  we  have  no  other  apparatus,  let  us  utilize  that 
under  the  most  favorable  condition, — out  of  doors. 

Given  the  necessary  hygienic  conditions,  we  must 
study  the  exercises  themselves  and  their  physiologi- 
cal effects  in  order  to  make  our  selection. 

It  is  common  knowledge  with  every  boy  who 
takes  any  interest  whatever  in  physical  exercises 
that  activity  gives  to  the  muscles  increased  strength, 
and  that  this  strength  is,  in  some  way  or  other,  re- 
lated to  the  size  of  the  muscle.  And  with  pride 
he  points  out  his  gain  in  this  respect.  He  often 
works  with  the  aim  in  view  to  build  up  his  muscles. 
He  wants  to  be  strong.  He  desires  muscles  which 
swell  powerfully  with  each  contraction.  He 
glories  in  increased  measurements.  This  seems 
quite  natural.  But  is  it  equally  plain  that  it  shall 


GYMNASTIC  SELECTION  27 

be  our  duty  to  encourage  him  to  develop  special 
strength?  We  know  of  course  that  every  one 
should  have  muscles  of  such  strength  as  will  en- 
able him  to  fulfill  life's  duty.  We  know  that  the 
muscles  are  the  executive  organs,  without  which  no 
work  can  be  performed.  We  know  that  moder- 
ately strong  muscles  are  necessary  for  the  main- 
tenance of  health,  vigor  and  virility.  We  know 
that  if  we  have  weak  and  flabby  muscles,  not  only 
does  our  health  suffer,  but  our  intellect  is  apt  to 
remain  potential  only;  our  morality  is  apt  to  be  of 
that  flabby  kind  which  finds  no  expression  in  deeds. 
But  have  we  any  right  to  suppose  that  the  bene- 
fits due  to  muscular  development  accumulate  ad 
infinitum?  Have  we  any  basis  for  an  opinion  that 
the  larger  the  muscles,  the  better  the  general  health, 
the  greater  the  general  efficiency?  And  do  we  not 
as  a  matter  of  fact  encourage  that  idea  among  our 
pupils,  when  we  include  a  number  of  measurements 
of  muscular  girths  in  our  anthropmetric  tables,  or, 
even  if  we  do  not  directly  encourage  it,  when  we 
stand  passively  by  while  our  pupils  assiduously 
work  for  "improvement"  in  these  measurements? 
Are  we  not  responsible  for  the  spreading  of  er- 
roneous ideas  when  men,  whose  names  are  house- 
hold words  among  us,  and  to  whom  the  public  looks 
up  as  leaders  in  physical  training,  arrange  annual 


28  GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

strength  tests,  in  which  the  students  are  encouraged 
not  only  to  partake,  but  for  which  they  are  urged 
specially  to  prepare  themselves  by  piling  up  the 
muscular  masses  necessary  to  break  the  records? 

The  strength  tests  have  been  taken  up  by  college 
after  college,  of  course  with  the  tacit  understand- 
ing that  valuable  benefits  accrue  from  abnormal 
muscular  strength.  But  where  are  the  data  upon 
which  this  opinion  is  based?  Has  any  lucid  state- 
ment ever  been  made  of  these  supposed  benefits? 
Or  can  such  a  statement  be  made?  As  long  as  we 
have  no  basis  of  facts  upon  which  to  support  a  be- 
lief in  these  hypothetical  and  vague  benefits,  it  be- 
hoves us  well  to  go  slow  and  not  encourage  exercises 
tending  to  develop  abnormal  volume  and  strength 
of  muscle.  The  time  has  passed  when  man  must 
mainly  rely  on  muscular  strength  to  succeed  in  the 
struggle  for  existence  and  advancement.  Moder- 
ate activity,  well  distributed,  is  sufficient  to  develop 
that  volume  and  strength  of  muscle  which  are  nec- 
essary to  carry  on  the  business  of  life  easily.  To 
develop  more  than  is  necessary  is  a  dissipation  of 
energy,  just  as  much  as  in  an  industrial  or  social 
organization  it  is  poor  economy  to  provide  for  a 
greater  executive  or  clerical  staff  than  is  absolutely 
necessary.  The  means  of  subsistence  must  come 
out  of  the  earnings  of  the  producing  force.  Un- 


GYMNASTIC  SELECTION  29 

jsarily  large  muscles  sap  the  energy  of  the  in- 
dividual. They  direct  to  themselves  an  undue  share 
of  the  nutriment,  leaving  less  to  carry  on  the  func- 
tions of  other  organs,  just  as  much  as  an  unneces- 
sarily large  standing  army  is  a  severe  drain  upon 
the  producing  force  of  Society.  It  is  true  that  with 
the  growth  of  the  muscles,  the  organs  which  have 
to  do  with  the  nutrition  adapt  themselves  to  the  in- 
creased demand.  The  stomach  will  digest  food 
better  than  before ;  the  heart  will  increase  its  pump- 
ing force,  and  so  on.  It  is  upon  this  ground  that 
the  general  hygienic  effect  of  muscular  exercise  is 
based.  But  if  all  the  increment  in  power  of  nutri- 
tion be  expended  in  the  maintenance  of  muscular 
bulk,  nothing  is  gained  in  the  direction  where  gain 
is  most  needed.  The  individual  does  not  become 
a  better  functionating  intellectual  being,  but  sinks 
to  the  level  of  a  muscular  monstrosity.  This  has 
been  pointed  out  so  frequently,  so  persistently,  by 
our  most  prominent  thinkers,  from  Galen  and  Hy- 
pocrates  to  Herbert  Spencer,  that  it  is  indeed  re- 
markable that  it  is  not  yet  universally  heeded,  but 
that  not  only  the  public,  the  uneducated  public, 
turns  with  admiration  to  professional  strong  men, 
but  that  leaders  among  us  still  glory  in  the  produc- 
tion of  lists  of  "the  one  hundred  strongest  college 
students." 


30  GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

Generally  speaking,  the  necessary  muscular 
strength  is  gained  incidentally  and  we  need  not  de- 
vise special  exercises  for  the  purpose  of  gaining  it. 
We  may,  and  shall,  on  the  contrary,  devote  our  at- 
tention to  secure  more  important  effects.  Espe- 
cially may  we  consider  it  a  superfluous,  useless,  and 
even  detrimental  labor  to  strengthen  the  muscles  of 
the  arms,  the  legs,  and  the  pectoral  groups. 

The  arms  and  legs  are  usually  sufficiently  well 
developed  muscularly  to  carry  on  their  duties.  If 
they  are  not,  they  will  soon  be  so,  if  they  are  put  to 
perform  those  duties,  provided  the  general  condition 
of  health  is  satisfactory.  But  to  take  exercises  on 
pulley-weights  to  develop  the  flexors  of  the  arms, 
or  to  cause  the  pupil  to  rise  on  tiptoes  from  ten  to 
a  couple  of  hundred  times  in  rapid  succession  in 
order  to  secure  large  calf  muscles,  or  to  tug  at  a 
wrist  machine  to  strengthen  the  forearms, —  these 
and  similar  procedures  are  not  permissible.  They 
are  not  conducive  to  health :  they  take  up  much  valu- 
able time  which  might  be  very  much  better  utilized ; 
their  object,  the  increase  of  muscular  strength 
should,  so  far  as  it  is  desirable,  be  secured  with  more 
natural,  less  mechanical  procedures, — by  climbing, 
by  rowing,  by  walking,  all  of  which  have  their  legi- 
timate place  in  physical  training. 

The  pectoral  groups  are  habitually  employed  in 


FIG.  7. 

A  type  of  activity  effective  in  preventing  abduction  of  the  shoulder 
blades.     (See  page   35.) 


FIG.  8. 

If  the  elbows  and  shoulder  blades  are  allowed  to  move  forward, 
the  activity  indicated  in  Fig.  7,  becomes  of  little  value.  (See 
page  36.} 


GYMNASTIC  SELECTION  31 

daily  activities.  They  are  commonly  as  strong  as 
the  individual  needs.  To  devise  special  exercises 
solely  for  their  further  development  in  strength  is 
not  only  unnecessary  and  time  robbing, — it  brings 
on  actual  injuries,  of  which  more  anon. 

We  are,  however,  warranted  in  developing  mus- 
cular strength  in  such  regions  which,  during  our 
normal  vocations,  have  a  minimum  of  activity,  or 
an  activity  which  is  of  such  a  nature  that  thereby 
the  harmonious  development  of  the  body,  necessary 
for  the  best  functioning  of  the  vital  organs,  becomes 
destroyed.  There  are  particularly  three  such  re- 
gions. The  abdominal  wall  is  rarely  called  upon  to 
perform  any  labor  worth  mentioning,  gravity  bend- 
ing the  body  forward.  The  abdominal  muscles  be- 
sides being  inactive  are  also  further  relaxed  because 
of  the  common  attitude  of  forward  flexion  in  sit- 
ting, standing  or  walking,  or  they  are  passively  ex- 
tended by  the  equally  common  standing  and  walk- 
ing attitude  with  hips  forward.  The  longitudinal 
dorsal  muscles  generally  have  a  considerable  amount 
of  labor  to  perform.  It  is  true  that  professional 
men  who  habitually  sit  at  their  desks  supporting  the 
weight  of  their  bodies  by  their  arms,  give  the  back 
muscles  a  minimum  of  activity;  but  on  the  other 
hand  the  majority  of  people  who  perform  any  kind 
of  physical  labor  call  upon  their  back  muscles  for 


32  GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

a  large  amount  of  work.  The  farmer  may  be  con- 
sidered typical  in  this  regard.  His  work  is  mainly 
performed  in  a  more  or  less  stooping  attitude  which 
necessitates  strong  activity  of  the  back  muscles,  but 
the  activity  is  generally  combined  with  extension, 
rarely  with  complete  shortening.  Similarly  is  the 
case  with  the  muscles  adducting  the  shoulder  blades 
to  the  spinal  column. 

That  function  makes  and  modifies  structure  is 
only  another  way  of  asserting  the  adaptability  of 
the  body  to  the  action  of  the  environment.  When 
a  muscle  is  made  to  perform  a  certain  amount  of 
work,  it  accommodates  itself  to  it.  Its  cross-sec- 
tion and  strength  increase  until  the  limits  set  by 
constitutional  conditions  have  been  reached.  If  its 
activity  again  decreases,  it  undergoes  an  atrophy  of 
disuse, — its  cross  section  and  strength  diminish. 
But  no  less  important,  no  less  well  known,  though 
apparently  very  much  less  generally  recognized  in 
the  practical  work  of  the  gymnast  is  its  adapta- 
bility to  the  range  of  motion.  Just  as  strength,— 
so  far  as  it  depends  on  the  muscle  itself — is  essen- 
tially a  matter  of  cross  section,  so  the  range  of  mo- 
tion is  dependent  on  the  length  of  the  contractile 
elements.  Now,  if  a  muscle  habitually  contracts 
to  the  limit  set  for  it  by  the  anatomical  construction 
of  the  joint  involved,  the  nutrition  seems  to  become 


GYMNASTIC  SELECTION  33 


distributed  over  the  whole  muscle  belly.  Its  cross 
section  increases  and  its  strength  grows;  its  length 
and  range  of  motion  remain  normal.  If,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  contraction  be  limited  in  extent,  Na- 
ture has  no  need  of  a  muscle  of  that  particular 
length.  She  gets  rid  of  the  superfluous  length. 
An  adaptation  takes  place,  by  which  the  muscle  be- 
comes able  to  contract  over  just  the  distance  de- 
manded of  it,  but  no  further.  The  muscle  belly 
atrophies  at  the  ends;  parts  of  the  contractile  ele- 
ments degenerate  into  connective  tissue;  the  belly 
grows  shorter,  while  the  tendons  lengthen  at  the 
expense  of  the  former.  Under  these  conditions  the 
range  of  motion  is  impaired ;  nutrition  may  now  be 
concentrated  over  a  shorter  distance,  and  a  still 
further  increase  of  cross  section  and  strength,  than 
under  normal  conditions,  may  take  place.  The 
muscle  gains  more  in  strength  and  loses  in  range 
by  such  incomplete  contractions. 

But  these  incomplete  contractions  affect  not  only 
the  muscles  themselves  but  changes  occur  also  in 
the  articulation  itself  and  in  the  periarticular  tis- 
sues. Those  parts  of  the  joint-surfaces  which  are 
not  utilized  in  motion  lose  their  smoothness.  The 
capsule  and  ligaments  shrink.  We  have  all  the 
phenomena  of  a  pseudoanchylosis^  because  of  which 
the  joint  not  onljTcannot  be  actively  moved  to  its 


34  GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

normal  full  limits,  but  there  are  mechanical  obsta- 
cles even  to  passive  motion. 

We  see  these  phenomena  frequently  as  a  result 
of  pathological  conditions.  We  see  it  very  com- 
monly in  old  age  as  a  result  of  a  limited  degree  of 
motion  in  which  a  person  of  old  age  habitually  in- 
dulges. We  see  it  in  our  laborer  who,  having 
grasped  tools  of  various  kinds  for  years,  is  unable 
to  extend  his  fingers.  We  see  it  in  our  farmers, 
clerks,  professional  men  and  school  children  who, 
bent  over  their  tasks  for  many  hours  each  day,  con- 
stantly employ  the  muscles  on  the  front  side  of  their 
thorax  in  incomplete  contractions,  with  shortening, 
while  their  back  and  shoulder  muscles  are  kept  on 
the  stretch,  and  who  find  when  they  endeavor  to 
straighten  up  that  it  is  impossible  to  do  so.  Make 
them  try  it,  and  they  will  bend  backward  in  the 
lumbar  region.  Ask  them  to  point  with  both  hands 
straight  up,  and  you  will  find  the  same  backward 
tilt.  Hang  them  by  the  hands,  and  the  shoulder 
and  hip  joints  will  frequently  be  in  front  of  the 
sternum.  We  find  the  same  pseudoanchylosis  in 
many  of  our  athletes  and  gymnasts.  Who  is  it 
among  us  who  has  not  seen  specialists  on  the  hori- 
zontal bar  or  the  rings  unable  to  extend  their  el- 
bows? Who  has  not  seen  many  addicted  to  im- 
moderate exercise  on  the  parallel  bars,  who  are 


GYMNASTIC  SELECTION  35 

unable  to  assume  even  the  semblance  of  an  erect 
attitude? 

Gymnastic  movements,  to  prevent  the  develop- 
ment of  these  deformities,  should  then,  as  a  rule,  be 
to  the  full  extent  allowed  by  the  joints,  except  that 
in  such  regions  where  the  daily  life  tends  to  cause 
shortening,  complete  contractions  should  be  avoided, 
while  we  should  insist  on  complete  relaxation  and 
stretching;  and  that  in  such  regions  where  stretch- 
ing frequently  takes  place,  we  should  emphasize 
complete  contractions,  and  employ  a  good  deal  of 
static  activity  in  order  to  secure  the  normal  short- 
ening, at  the  same  time  that  we  should  avoid  ac- 
tivity when  the  muscles  are  stretched. 

Simple  exercises  effective  in  preventing,  and  cor- 
recting the  abduction  of  the  shoulder  blades  are 
movements  of  the  upper  arms  in  the  plane  of  the 
shoulders  or  slightly  behind  it,  such  as  placing  the 
hands  on  the  hips  (Fig.  1),  or  behind  the  head 
(Fig  3),  bending  the  elbows  while  maintaining  the 
upper  arms  immobile  or  rotated  outward  (Fig.  5), 
raising  the  upper  arms  sideways  until  horizontal, 
with  elbows  well  retracted  and  strongly  flexed,  ex- 
tension of  the  elbows  from  this  posture,  etc.  (Fig. 

7). 

K    Errors  of  form  are  frequently  committed  in  these 
jimple   preliminary   exercises,   which,    apparently 


36  GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

small  and  easily  overlooked  by  the  untrained  eye, 
should  not  be  allowed  to  pass  uncorrected  by  the 
teacher,  because  they  are  sufficient  to  defeat  our 
purpose.  Such  are:  in  the  first  exercise,  to  bring 
the  elbows  too  far  backward,  by  which  the  glenoid 
portions  of  the  scapulae  are  rotated  forward  if  the 
retractors  of  the  scapula  are  not  under  extra  good 
control  (Fig.  2) ;  in  placing  the  hands  behind  the 
head,  to  bring  the  elbows  in  front  of  the  shoulder- 
plane  or  to  allow  the  head  to  be  brought  forward 
(Fig.  4) ;  in  arm-bending  upward  to  allow  the 
elbows  to  separate  from  the  body,  to  bring  the 
elbows  backward,  to  place  the  hands  on  the  chest 
(Fig.  6) ;  in  the  arm-bending  and  stretching  in 
the  horizontal  plane,  to  bring  the  elbows  for- 
ward in  the  flexion,  downward  in  the  extension. 
(Fig.  8.) 

The  back  muscles  are  strengthened  and  shortened 
by  efforts  to  incline  the  body  forward  from  the 
hips  while  maintaining  it  straight,  by  the  main- 
tenance of  this  inclined  posture  during  movements 
of  the  arms,  or  by  arching  the  body  backward  while 
lying  prone  with  feet  supported  or  unsupported, 
and  the  arms  stationary  in  various  positions  or  ex- 
ecuting such  movements  as  have  already  been  men- 
tioned. (Figs.  9-12.) 

Later,  when  a  fair  degree  of  control  has  been 


GYMNASTIC  SELECTION  37 


gained,  arms  should  be  extended  above  the  head; 
and  still  later  they  might  be  brought  forward. 

In  bringing  the  arms  up  above  the  head,  paral- 
lelism of  the  arms  should  not  be  insisted  upon  if 
the  arms  cannot  be  kept  in  the  shoulderplane.  It 
is  much  more  effective  to  insist  upon  the  latter 
feature  but  to  allow  some  degree  of  divergence  up- 
ward. 

To  bring  the  arms  forward  when  the  retractors 
scapula  are  so  weak,  so  elongated,  or  so  little  under 
control  that  the  scapulas  glide  forward  unhampered 
on  the  thoracic  wall  during  the  motion  of  the  arms, 
is  detrimental  to  the  best  results.  (Fig.  13.)  So 
is  also  a  trunkbending  forward  in  which  all  the 
vertebral  joints  participate  to  the  full  extent. 
(Fig.  14.)  These  are  exactly  the  kind  of  move- 
ments which  are  performed  in  daily  life,  which  by 
their  prevalence  are  the  cause  of  the  deformity,  the 
prevention  of  which  we  should  consider  our  duty. 
Bending  forward  in  this  manner  and  again  stretch- 
ing, strengthens  the  back  muscles  to  be  sure,  but 
they  keep  them  elongated,  and,  in  spite  of  every- 
thing, the  deformity  develops.  Those  forms  of 
exercises  should  be  excluded. 

In  the  exercises  already  mentioned  we  secure  a 
strengthening  of  the  back  muscles  and  at  the  same 
time  a  more  or  less  pronounced  tension  on  the  tis- 


38  GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

sues  in  front.  Both  of  these  desirable  effects  are 
emphasized  by  freestanding  trunkbendings  back- 
ward, with  the  arms  in  various  positions.  (Fig. 
15.)  In  these  there  is  a  tendency  to  strive  for  con- 
siderable flexion  with  the  result  that  practically  all 
of  it  is  localized  in  the  lumbar  region  only,  doing 
harm  instead  of  good.  This  error  is  committed 
daily  in  hundreds  of  our  gymnasia.  The  arching 
backward  should  be  placed  high  up,  with  the  arms 
brought  well  backward,  and  the  lumbar  region 
should  participate  only  when  the  movement  has 
been  completed  in  the  dorsal  region  as  far  as  pos- 
sible. That  group  of  exercises  which  the  Swedes 
call  Tense-bendings  are  probably  unsurpassed  for 
the  purpose  now  under  consideration.  The  cor- 
rect form  with  an  even  arch  and  thoroughly  ex- 
tended arms  requires  strong  static  activity  in  the 
shoulder  region  and  the  ribs  spread  out  fanlike  in 
front  in  the  most  beautiful  manner.  (Fig.  16.) 

It  should  be  noticed  that  all  the  examples  hitherto 
given  are  selected  because  they  place  the  body  in 
the  necessary  posture  by  means  of  active  muscular 
contraction.  Any  exercise  which  does  this  is  of 
undoubted  value. 

When  looking  for  suitable  means  to  counteract 
influences  which  tend  to  bring  on  shortening  of  tis- 
sues, or  which  may  have  brought  on  such  a  condi- 


FIG.  9. 

The  back  muscles  are  strengthened  and  shortened  by  efforts  to 
incline  the  body  forward  from  the  hips."     (See  page  86.) 


FIG.  10. 

Maintaining  the  arms  upward  intensifies  the  action  indicated  un- 
der Fig.  9.     (See  page  36.) 


GYMNASTIC  SELECTION 


39 


;ion,  our  minds  turn  quite  naturally  to  means  by 
^hich  a  more  or  less  powerful  extension  of  the 
iortened  tissues  may  be  brought  about.     The  or- 
topedic  surgeons  relied  for  many  years  nearly  ex- 
lusively  on  passive  extension,  supplied  by  braces, 
>laster  of  Paris  casts,  leather  corsets,  etc.,  to  con- 
fer such  deformities  as  round  shoulders  and  rotary 
iteral  curvature  of  the  spine.     The  method  was 
:utile,  and  has  now  gone  out  of  use  except  in  very 
:ceptional  cases,  and  active  gymnastic  treatment 
been  largely  substituted.     It  is  not  too  much 
say  that  considerable  credit  for  this  change  is 
lue  to  gymnasts.     And  still  we  observe  procedures 
>ed  in  our  gymnasia  as  preventative  means  which 
:actly  correspond  to  those  discarded  by  the  sur- 
>ns.     One  example  is  the  lying  on  the  quarter 
jircle.     This  is  supposed  by  many  to  be  effective  in 
>reventing  or  even  curing  round  shoulders.     But 
tis  is  a  mere  delusion.     The  anterior  tissues  are 
jrtainly  relaxed  by  the  posture  on  the  apparatus, 
ind  if  maintained  so  for  several  hours  daily  there 
no  doubt  about  its  efficacy  in  preventing  the  de- 
relopment  of  the  deformity.     But  the  gymnasium 
should  not  be  the  place  where  passivity  should  be 
icouraged,  and  passivity  of  sufficient  duration  in 
;hat  posture  would  become  torture.     The  gym- 
lasium  is  the  place  for  activity.     Therefore  the 


40  GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

quarter  circle  is  supplemented  with  an  overhead 
pulley  weight.  This  changes  the  apparatus  from 
one  of  absolute  uselessness  into  one  whose  good  or 
evil  effects  depend  on  its  use.  If  the  arms,  as  is 
very  commonly,  if  not  generally,  the  case,  are 
brought  down  in  front  of  the  body,  it  is  the  pectoral 
group  which  nearly  exclusively  enters  into  activity 
and  we  are  by  the  exercise  fortifying  the  evil  effects 
of  the  predominant  pectoral  contraction  of  daily 
life.  It  then  becomes  a  deforming  influence.  The 
arms  may  be  so  carried — well  to  the  sides — that 
some  real  benefit  may  accrue,  but  this  benefit  can 
more  easily  be  gained  by  other  means  and  without 
any  special  apparatus  being  necessary.  The  quar- 
ter circle  may  be  exiled  from  the  gymnasium  with- 
out loss.  That  it  still  retains  its  place  notwith- 
standing its  very  limited  usefulness  would  be 
inexplicable,  were  it  not  for  our  usual  disinclina- 
tion from  breaking  with  the  common  routine. 

Numerous  exercises  are  practised  in  the  gym- 
nasium which  have  exactly  the  contrary  effect  from 
that  which  is  expected  from  them  because  of  their 
mere  external  form.  The  so-called  "Hammock 
hang"  is  an  example  of  these.  (Fig.  17.)  The 
body  with  face  downward  is  suspended  by  means 
of  hands  and  feet.  The  arms  are  thus  brought 
to  extreme  abduction  backwards  carrying  the 


GYMNASTIC  SELECTION  41 

shoulders  with  them,  while  the  spine  is  curved 
backward.  Many  expect  that  by  such  a  posture 
round  shoulders  may  be  prevented  or  cured.  But 
note  that  the  abductory  force  here  is  not  the  re- 
tractors of  the  shoulder  blades,  or  any  muscular 
contraction  whatsoever,  but  the  posture  is  brought 
about  solely  by  the  action  of  gravity.  The  sup- 
posed correction  of  spine  and  shoulders  is  there- 
fore the  result  of  the  same  force  as  in  lying  on  the 
quarter  circle.  But  here  we  have,  besides,  a  strong 
contraction  of  the  pectorals  and  anterior  portion 
of  the  deltoids,  necessary  in  order  to  save  the  shoul- 
der joints  from  dislocation.  This  hanging  exercise 
acts  on  the  shoulder  girdle  exactly  as  an  orthopedic 
brace — the  muscles  of  the  back  which  need  strength- 
ening are  placed  in  inactivity,  while  the  anterior 
tissues,  exercised  to  oppose  the  strain,  will  de- 
velop in  strength,  and  consequently  when  released 
will  be  still  stronger  than  before  to  pull  the  shoul- 
ders forward.  The  same  is  true  of  the  so-called 
"rear  hang"  (Fig.  18),  the  "rear  bent  arm  rest" 

(Fig.  19),  circling  from  this  posture,  and  others, 
which  by  the  pectoral  activity  are  deforming  the 
chest  instead  of  improving  its  form.  And  we  need 
not  turn  for  examples  of  this  nature  to  these  com- 
paratively severer  forms.  We  may  think  of  the 

exercises  in  which  the  wand  is  brought  back  of  the 


exerc] 


42  GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

shoulders  or  behind  the  hips,  and  allowed  to  rest 
there  acting  as  a  brace  to  overcome  which  the  pec- 
torals contract.  (Fig.  20.)  We  may  call  to  mind 
that  exercise  in  which  two  pupils  face  each  other 
and  holding  each  the  ends  of  two  long  bars  either 
above  their  heads  or  down  at  the  sides,  endeavor  to 
force  the  opponent  back,  while  the  latter  strongly 
resists  by  pectoral  contraction.  (Fig.  21.)  Or 
we  may  think  of  how  often  we  observe  classes  in 
which  the  pupils  are  made  to  place  their  hands  be- 
hind their  heads  and  then  endeavor  to  bend  the  neck 
backward  against  the  resistance  of  the  pectorals. 
Examples  of  this  nature  can  easily  be  multiplied. 

While  such  exercises  as  those  hitherto  mentioned 
are  definitely  injurious  because  of  their  very  nature, 
there  are  a  number  of  others  which  may  be  in- 
nocuous, beneficial,  or  injurious  according  to  the 
manner  of  execution,  apparently  small  variations 
in  form  totally  reversing  the  effect.  These  varia- 
tions are  frequently  so  small  that  the  untrained  eye 
fails  to  detect  them,  and  many  of  our  gymnastic 
teachers  need  to  have  their  attention  specially  called 
to  them.  A  fair  example  of  these  is  "the  dip," 
which  enters  as  one  of  the  usually  prescribed  feats 
in  strength  tests.  If  the  flexion  of  the  arms  be 
done  to  moderate  degree  with  the  elbows  moving  in 
the  shoulder  plane,  we  get  a  simultaneous  strong 


GYMNASTIC  SELECTION  43 

contraction  in  the  pectorals,  the  latissimi  and  the 
retractors  of  the  scapulae,  which  is  beneficial  in  caus- 
ing chest-expansion  and  educating  to  a  correct  atti- 
tude. But  if  the  arms  be  flexed  to  the  extreme 
extent,  usually  encouraged  in  the  strength  tests,  or 
if  the  elbows  are  brought  considerably  behind  the 
shoulders  as  we  frequently  see  it  done,  the  posterior 
muscles  relax,  the  weight  of  the  body  causes  an 
extreme  abduction  of  the  arms,  which  is  resisted  by 
the  pectorals,  and  we  have  an  exercise  developing 
the  strength  of  the  latter  but  at  the  same  time  com- 
pressing the  chest.  In  the  same  category  we  may 
put  all  the  other  exercises  which  by  the  Swedes 
have  received  the  generic  name  heave  movements. 
Take  the  simplest  of  the  more  typical  group  in  this 
family,  the  mere  hanging  by  the  hands.  If  the 
weight  be  passively  suspended  from  the  arms  (Fig. 
22)  we  get  the  passive  extension  which  we  have 
already  spoken  of  as  having  practically  a  negligible 
value.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  all  the  muscles  join- 
ing the  trunk  with  the  shoulder  girdle  and  arms  be 
contracted  so  that  the  body  is  lifted  between  the 
latter,  we  secure  a  judiciously  distributed  activity 
which  is  of  the  utmost  value.  (Fig.  23.)  If  now 
an  arm  bending  be  added  the  effect  becomes  still 
more  pronounced,  but  its  desirability  is  conditioned 
on  the  form  maintained.  If  the  elbows  be  carried 


44  GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

in  the  shoulder  plane  there  results  a  chest  expan- 
sion and  flattening  of  the  shoulders  of  greatest 
value.  (Fig.  24.)  If  the  arms  are  allowed  to 
move  forward,  as  is  usually  done  in  "chinning," 
there  follows  chest  depression,  rounding  of  the  back, 
and  abduction  of  the  shoulder-blades.  (Fig.  25.) 
So  executed,  the  exercise  has  no  developmental 
value,  but  is  causing  direct  injury.  It  is  a  mere 
"stunt."  It  is  an  exercise  which  may  be  defended 
by  those  who,  in  gymnastics,  see  the  road  towards 
creating  desire  for  activity  without  taking  account 
of  the  directly  beneficial  effect  of  this  activity  on 
the  formation  of  the  body ;  but  to  those  who  believe 
that  general  educative  influence  should  be  gained 
by  play  and  games,  while  the  gymnastics  shall  have 
more  specific  effects,  the  exercise  becomes  an  evil, 
and  they  should  exclude  it  from  their  materia  gym- 
nastica.  As  the  complete  abduction  of  the  elbows 
.becomes  very  difficult  with  supinated  hands  if  a 
rigid  apparatus  like  a  horizontal  bar  or  boom  Le 
used,  the  exercise  on  these  apparatus  should  pref- 
erably be  done  with  pronated  hands,  while  some 
yielding  apparatus,  like  vertical  ropes  or  rings,  per- 
mitting the  body  to  advance  between  them,  should 
be  chosen  if  we  wish  to  "chin"  with  supinated  hands. 
The  same  demands  on  a  proper  cooperation  be- 
tween all  the  muscles  of  the  shoulder  girdle  should 


GYMNASTIC  SELECTION  45 

be  observed  in  all  the  heave  movements.  For  in- 
stance, in  fall  hanging  posture,  and  in  arm-bending 
in  that  posture,  the  body  should  not  be  permitted  to 
sink  down  while  the  shoulder  blades  advance  upon 
the  thorax,  and  the  elbows  should  not  be  permitted 
to  be  brought  forward  (Figs.  26-27).  For  the 
same  reason,  we  should  exclude  arm  traveling  for- 
ward, at  least  on  a  narrow  apparatus  like  the  boom, 
while  flexion  of  the  hips  forward  from  a  hanging 
posture  should  not  be  permitted  without  a  firm  sup- 
port behind  the  sacrum.  Without  this  support, 
the  body,  because  of  the  advance  of  the  center  of 
gravity,  will  swing  backward  causing  a  chest  de- 
pression. 

These  examples  of  selection  as  to  form  must  suf- 
fice. But  of  no  less  importance  is  the  question  as 
to  intensity  and  speed. 

In  the  selection  of  proper  form,  we  have  been 
obliged  to  consider  not  only  the  interaction  of  grav- 
ity and  the  motor  muscles,  but  also  the  activity  of  all 
those  muscular  groups  which  serve  to  give  proper 
direction  and  smoothness  to  the  motion,  and  to 
those  which  furnish  fixed  points.  We  are  gener- 
ally perhaps  too  prone  to  consider  a  motion  as  the 
result  of  a  contraction  in  a  single  isolated  group. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  however,  every  natural  move- 
ment involves  the  cooperation  of  a  large  number 


46  GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

of  muscles :  motor,  directors,  fixators,  which,  in  their 
cooperation,  essentially  determine  the  form;  and 
the  antagonists,  the  proper  participation  of  which 
is  determined  greatly  by  the  intensity  and  the  speed 
of  the  contraction  in  the  motor  muscles. 

If  a  movement  be  done  slowly,  the  antagonists 
participate  less  and  less  the  greater  the  energy  of 
the  contraction  in  the  motor-muscles.  Thus  if  we 
slowly  flex  the  elbow,  the  extensors  contract  with 
a  force  nearly  equal  to  that  of  the  flexors.  But  if 
we  hold  a  heavy  weight  in  the  hand  during  the 
flexion,  that  weight  serves  to  control  the  motion 
and  the  extensors  are  not  needed.  They  relax  com- 
pletely. If  now  the  speed  be  greatly  increased  the 
flexor  muscles  must  of  course  at  the  beginning  ex- 
ert a  greater  force  to  set  in  motion  the  weight,  while 
the  extensors  remain  in  inactivity.  But  when  the 
motion  has  been  well  initiated,  it  is  continued  by 
its  own  momentum ;  the  flexors  may,  and  do,  relax 
during  the  latter  part  of  the  motion.  As  the  mo- 
tion approaches  its  natural  limit,  the  momentum 
must  be  gradually  overcome  before  it  be  checked 
by  the  construction  of  the  joint.  During  the  last 
part  of  the  movement  the  extensors,  therefore,  in- 
voluntarily enter  into  a  more  or  less  violent  con- 
traction, serving  as  buffers,  without  which  trau- 
matisms  may  occur.  Such  traumatisms  are  not 


4.J.JL 

. 


. 


GYMNASTIC  SELECTION  47 

quite  unknown  in  the  field  of  physical  training. 
The  pitcher's  shoulder  frequently  suffers  from  a 
traumatic  arthritis,  because  he  trains  himself  not 
to  check  the  forward  motion  of  the  arm,  in  order 
that  the  greatest  possible  speed  may  be  given  to 
the  ball. 

But  excessive  speed  or  energy  are  not  necessary 
to  cause  this  antagonistic  resistance.  If  we  men- 
tally prepare  ourselves  to  reverse  the  motion  im- 
mediately it  has  been  completed,  the  mental  atti- 
tude finds  expression  in  an  unconscious  contraction 
of  the  antagonists  long  before  the  first  phase  of  the 
movement  is  completed.  Thus,  in  oscillatory  move- 

ents,  so  commonly  used  in  our  gymnastics,  and 
seemingly  at  present  urged  more  earnestly  by  our 
psychologists  than  ever  before,  we  find  this  taking 
place.  In  a  consecutive  series  of  flexions  and  ex- 
tensions, the  flexors  contract  during  the  last  half  of 
the  extension  and  during  the  first  half  of  the  flexion, 
but  are  relaxed  during  the  last  half  of  the  flexion 
and  the  first  half  of  the  extension,  and  during  their 
relaxation  extensor  activity  is  substituted. 

From  these  facts  it  may  perhaps  be  permissible 
to  draw  some  conclusions. 

It  has  been  a  time-honored  custom  to  increase  the 

uscular  contraction  by  the  use  of  external  weights. 
For  a  long  time  heavy  dumb  bells  were  lifted  and 


48  GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

tossed  in  our  gymnasia.  That  time  has  passed, 
and  they  are  now  relegated  to  the  training  quarters 
of  professional  strong  men.  May  they  remain 
there,  until  they  finally  land  in  the  junk-shops. 
The  discredit  into  which  they  have  fallen  was  prob- 
ably due  mainly  to  the  interference  of  sustained  ef- 
forts with  proper  respiration  and  circulation.  The 
portable  apparatus  now  in  use,  dumb  bells,  Indian 
clubs,  wands,  barbells,  hoops,  and  so  forth,  are  not 
employed,  primarily  at  least,  for  the  purpose  of 
furnishing  an  increased  resistance,  though  many 
voices  praise  them  on  that  ground.  They  are  sup- 
posed to  be  chiefly  beneficial  in  adding  a  psychic 
element  lacking  in  free  exercises.  It  is  considered 
that  it  is  easier  to  maintain  interest  when  the  pupil 
has  external  objects  to  deal  with  than  when  he 
moves  his  own  body,  and  that  the  slightly  increased 
resistance  furnishes  clearer  perceptions  as  to  space 
relations.  There  seems  to  be  something  for  the 
latter  argument.  The  former,  however,  can  but 
be  fallacious.  Poor  indeed  is  the  teacher  who  needs 
definite  externalia  to  supplement  the  influence  of 
his  own  personality.  But,  however  that  may  be,  it 
does  not  concern  us  in  this  connection.  Here  we 
shall  confine  ourselves  to  consider  these  apparatus 
as  weights.  Even  if  we  acknowledge  the  great  im- 
provement which  has  come  with  the  substitution  of 


GYMNASTIC  SELECTION  49 

light  weights  for  heavy  ones,  we  must  still  consider 
that  an  addition  of  half  a  pound  to  a  pound  in  the 
hands  of  a  small  child  is  not  without  its  influence. 
And  when  we  know  how  severe  a  task  it  may  be  for 
a  child  in  the  second  or  third  year  of  school  to  con- 
tract sufficiently  to  move  the  unweighted  arms,  in 
such  paths  as  we  may  reasonably  demand,  we  must 
deplore  that  many  of  even  our  best  manuals  recom- 
mend these  extra  weights.  If  the  argument  for 
them  because  of  a  greater  ease  of  perception  forma- 
tion holds  good,  the  problem  still  remains  unsolved 
whether  the  benefits  in  this  regard  are  not  more 
than  counterbalanced  by  the  nervous  and  muscular 
strain  brought  about. 

It  may  now  be  remarked  that  this  strain  is  not  so 
great  as  may  appear,  because  the  exercises  with 
these  apparatus  as  usually  performed  are  only  mo- 
mentary contractions,  the  different  phases  of  the 
movements  not  being  separated  by  distinct  pauses 
but  imperceptibly  melting  one  into  the  other,  and 
that  we  consequently  deal  with  the  kind  of  oscil- 
latory activity  in  which  the  antagonistic  muscles 
alternate  quite  rapidly,  giving  sufficient  time  for  re- 
covery. But  this  is  just  the  strongest  argument 
which  can  be  made  against  the  usual  exercises  with 
portable  apparatus.  Just  because  of  the  rapidity 
with  which  the  movements  follow  each  other,  they 


50  GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

rarely  induce  complete  contractions,  and  are  there- 
fore not  the  proper  means  by  which  the  nutrition 
can  be  distributed  over  the  whole  muscle,  but  are 
conducive  to  short  and  bulky  muscles.  To  get  the 
best  results  from  exercises  with  external  weights, 
in  fact  to  get  any  good  results  at  all,  the  movements 
must  be  done  only  with  moderate  speed — less  speed 
than  corresponding  free  movements, — and  the  end 
of  each  phase  of  the  exercise  must  be  well  marked. 

If  the  adding  of  the  small  weight  of  the  present 
dumb  bells  should  be  well  considered  before  they 
be  employed  in  the  exercises  of  small  children,  this 
reason  does,  of  course,  not  affect  their  use  by  ado- 
lescents and  adults.  To  them  half  a  pound  weight 
is  of  less  importance,  and  if  we  wish  to  use  them, 
we  need  only  avoid  adding  unduly  to  their  weight 
and  observe  the  rule  as  to  the  necessity  of  com- 
pleting each  phase  of  an  exercise  before  another  is 
allowed  to  begin. 

For  the  more  mature  ages,  every  "well-equipped" 
gymnasium  has  a  large  number  of  pulley  weights. 
The  matter  of  what  apparatus  to  use  is  a  question 
of  very,  very  small  importance.  The  salient  point 
is  the  manner  of  its  use.  There  are  no  qualities 
inherent  in  an  apparatus  which  can  justify  us  in 
commending  or  condemning  it.  It  is  only  a  ques- 
tion of  convenience  and  adaptability.  If  anybody 


GYMNASTIC  SELECTION  51 


has  a  special  predilection  for  a  given  apparatus,  he 
certainly  should  utilize  it,  whatever  others  may 
think  of  its  value.  The  manner  in  which  he  uses  it 
is  of  the  utmost  importance.  But  what  benefit  can 
anybody  get  out  of  pulley  weights?  There  is  no 
desirable  form  of  movement  that  we  can  give  with 
the  help  of  them  that  we  cannot  give  more  con- 
veniently and  as  energetically  with  other  apparatus 
or  without  any  apparatus  whatsoever.  They  are 
supposed  to  be  very  valuable  in  helping  to  localize 
the  contraction.  Their  efficacy  in  this  regard  is 
certainly  very  much  exaggerated.  And  every  one 
must  admit  that  the  usual  manner  in  which  they  are 
employed  is  provocative  of  more  harm  than  good. 
To  gain  benefit  from  them  a  good  attitude  should 
be  maintained.  Generally  speaking,  more  atten- 
tion is  now  paid  to  that  side  of  the  question,  so  that 
criticism  of  errors  committed  is  more  or  less  out 
of  place.  But  the  same  requirements  as  to  com- 
pleteness of  contraction,  the  pause  at  the  end  of 
one  phase  of  the  movement,  and  moderation  of 
speed,  are  necessary  with  this  apparatus  as  with 
dumb  bells,  and  in  this  matter  no  noticeable  change 
has  been  made  during,  let  us  say,  the  last  fifteen 
years. 

To  recapitulate :     The  selection  of  exercises  con- 
cerned with  the  form  of  the  back  and  shoulder  re- 


52  GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

gion  must  be  such  that  the  dorsal  muscles  and  the 
retractors  of  the  scapulas  become  strengthened  and 
shortened,  while  the  tissues  in  front  of  the  chest  be- 
come elongated. 

By  these  means  we  train  the  system  so  that  good 
form  may  be  retained  unconsciously  during  our 
common  activity.  A  person  well-trained  in  gym- 
nastics of  this  kind  will,  for  instance,  assume  a  writ- 
ing posture  like  Fig.  28,  instead  of  that  in  Fig. 
29. 

We  thereby  cause  a  permanent  enlargement  of 
the  thoracic  cage.  This  effect  should  be  further 
emphasized  by  exercises  causing  mechanical  eleva- 
tion of  the  ribs,  such  as  raising  of  the  arms  and 
suspensions  from  the  hands  (always  with  straight 
back  and  well-retracted  shoulders),  and  by  volun- 
tary respirations.  Exercises  in  running  are  also 
excellent  for  enlargement  of  the  thorax,  due  care 
of  course  being  given  to  the  duration  and  frequency. 
The  adolescent  of  course  can  sustain  a  much  greater 
effort  in  this  regard  than  the  child  or  the  middle- 
aged  man.  And  everybody  of  whatever  age  gains 
the  greatest  chest  expansion  by  judiciously  employ- 
ing both  running  and  so-called  respiratory  exercises. 

A  proper  carriage  of  the  upper  part  of  the  body 
immediately  changes  the  contour  of  the  abdomen, 


GYMNASTIC  SELECTION  53 


which  we  have  already  said  is  the  second  part  need- 
ing our  special  attention. 

The  enlargement  of  the  chest  causes  the  ascent 
of  the  abdominal  viscera  by  an  increase  in  the 
thoracic  aspiration,  and,  the  ribs  being  lifted,  the 
abdominal  wall  itself  is  made  to  serve  in  its  natural 
role  as  a  support  for  the  viscera.  But  it  needs  also 
strengthening.  Without  it  the  lumbar  curve  is 
apt  to  become  enlarged.  Exercises  involving  the 
contraction  of  the  abdominal  walls  must  therefore 
be  selected,  and  the  same  care  should  be  given  to 
their  proper  execution  as  to  those  of  the  back  and 
shoulders.  There  are  several  types  of  exercises 
which  may  properly  be  utilized  for  this  purpose. 
The  chief  danger  to  be  avoided  by  a  proper  selec- 
tion lies  in  the  possibility  of  depression  of  the  chest 
and  curving  forward  of  the  spine  by  these  exer- 
cises. To  avoid  this,  we  may  choose  such  a  posture 
as  will  passively  maintain  the  ribs  elevated  and  the 
body  straight,  as  for  instance  hanging  the  pupils 
by  the  hands  during  a  flexion  of  the  legs  upward, 
or  during  the  execution  of  various  movements  of 
the  legs  while  they  are  flexed  upon  the  trunk. 
(Fig.  30.)  In  speaking  of  these  movements  with 
regard  to  their  effects  on  the  thorax,  we  have  al- 
ready pointed  out  the  difference  as  to  the  chest 


54  GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

when  the  sacrum  is  supported  and  when  the  body 
hangs  free. 

Another  and  more  important  means  to  obviate 
the  possibility  of  chest  depression  is  the  active  main- 
tenance of  a  straight  back  and  retracted  shoulders 
during  the  abdominal  activity.  If  now  it  be  the 
intention  to  affect  the  abdominal  muscles  by  a 
flexion  of  the  trunk  upon  the  legs  from  a  lying 
posture,  it  is  evident  that  the  preponderance  in 
weight  of  the  trunk  over  the  legs  will  make  the 
movement  executed  with  a  straight  back  impossible 
if  the  legs  be  not  firmly  supported.  If  this  pre- 
caution has  not  been  taken,  the  contraction  of  the 
flexors  of  the  hips  will  raise  the  legs  as  being  the 
most  movable  segment,  or  the  body  will  be  curled 
up  forward.  (Fig.  31.)  Exercises  in  sitting  with 
supported  feet  and  the  body  inclined  backward  are 
to  be  recommended.  True  trunk-bendings  back- 
ward strengthen  the  abdominal  wall  and  the  arch 
in  the  upper  back  prevents  rib  depression.  But  if 
carried  to  extreme,  the  lumbar  curve  will  be  ex- 
aggerated and  the  abdominal  wall  will  be  length- 
ened. These  extreme  bendings  should  therefore 
only  be  used  comparatively  little.  Exercises  in 
such  a  posture  that  the  prone  body  rests  upon  the 
hands  and  feet  are  often  done  in  such  a  manner 
that  the  body  is  allowed  to  sink  down,  the  lumbar 


FIG.  13. 

Abduction  of  the  shoulder  blades  commonly  seen  in  exercises  in- 
volving the  "  reach  "  position.     (See  page  37.) 


GYMNASTIC  SELECTION  55 

curve  becomes  exaggerated  and  the  abdominal  mus- 
cles elongated.  (Fig.  32.)  A  sufficient  abdo- 
minal contraction  easily  corrects  this  error  of  form. 
(Fig.  33.)  Among  these  exercises  may  well  be 
classified  bending  and  inclining  the  body  sideways, 
and  twisting.  At  the  same  time  that  they 
strengthen  the  abdomen,  they  are  most  important 
in  maintaining  and  increasing  the  mobility  of  the 
thorax.  The  trunk  twistings,  to  accomplish  their 
purpose,  must  be  done  with  fixed  pelvis.  Gener- 
ally they  are  erroneously  done  in  such  a  manner 
that  the  pelvis  and  lower  extremities  partake  in  the 
twisting,  the  abdomen  and  thorax  receiving  very 
small  benefit. 

The  application  of  exercises  selected  with  special 
reference  to  the  effects  upon  the  carriage  and  the 
abdominal  wall  should  constitute  the  main  part  of 
the  gymnastic  lesson,  if  the  object  be,  as  we  have 
maintained,  the  specific  hygienic  one  of  securing  to 
the  organs  of  nutrition  the  most  favorable  condi- 
tions for  maintaining  the  health.  To  these  should 
be  added  numerous  exercises  of  applications  both 
for  the  purpose  of  adding  that  large  amount  of 
physical  activity  without  which  vigor  cannot  be 
maintained,  and  to  educate  the  pupils  in  economical 
modes  of  energy-expenditure. 

The  selection  of  which  we  have  spoken  has  dealt 


56  GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

with  the  form,  speed  and  energy  of  relatively  sim- 
ple movements.  These  are  the  elements  of  which 
composite  exercises  should  be  built,  and  in  the  lat- 
ter there  should  enter  no  elements  but  the  former, 
except,  if  I  so  might  express  myself,  as  the  material 
binding  the  elements  together.  Thus  we  have,  for 
instance,  emphasized  the  necessity  of  avoiding  chest 
depressors.  It  does  not  matter  how  composite, 
complex  or  difficult  an  exercise  may  be,  we  must 
still  consider  it  to  be  a  fundamental  condition  that 
it  shall  not  cause  a  chest  depression.  But  this 
should,  of  course,  not  prevent  the  use  of  an  exercise 
which,  upon  the  whole,  is  to  be  recommended,  but 
which  requires  as  a  transient  phase  such  a  depres- 
sion. Transient  intermediate  depression  has  no 
evil  effect,  if  it  be  not  too  frequently  repeated. 
What  is  most  important  is  the  beginning  and  the 
end  of  each  phase,  those  parts  which  we  have  said 
should  be  marked  by  a  definite  pause,  even  if  small, 
and  which  gives  to  the  movement  its  finish  and  gym- 
nastic character. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  PRINCIPLE  OF  GYMNASTIC  TOTALITY 

THE  principle  of  suitable  selection  is  of  prime 
importance  to  the  gymnast.  An  immense  number 
of  possible  movements,  either  because  of  their 
direct  injuriousness  or  because  of  the  lack  of  direct 
usefulness,  must  be  weeded  out.  But  there  still 
remains  an  immense  material  in  which  order  must 
be  brought  if  we  shall  ever  hope  to  gain  control  of 
it.  We  must  undertake  to  bring  together  those 
exercises  which  resemble  each  other  in  all  main 
features,  separating  them  from  others  with  which 
they  have  little  in  common.  No  science  is  possible 
without  classification  of  the  material  with  which 
it  deals.  No  science  of  gymnastics  can  ever  grow 
up  if  we  do  not  endeavor  to  classify  the  exercises. 
It  being  well  understood  that  the  exercises  them- 
selves are  not  the  end,  but  the  effects  they  produce, 
it  immediately  becomes  evident  that  the  only  satis- 
factory basis  for  such  a  classification  is  to  be  sought 
in  these  effects.  A  classification  based  on  mere  ex- 
ternal form,  or  upon  the  apparatus  used,  or  on  any 
other  incidental  similarity  or  dissimilarity  can  have 

57 


58  GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

but  small  value  to  him  who  wishes  to  study  his  sub- 
ject. To  him  the  effects  are  the  important  mat- 
ter, and  by  such  a  classification  forms  are  brought 
together  which  vary  greatly  in  their  effects.  So, 
though  we  may  loosely  speak  of  free  exercises  and 
apparatus  work,  of  head  movements,  and  leg  move- 
ments, of  wand  exercises  and  dumb  bell  exercises, 
of  parallel  bar  exercises,  of  exercises  on  the  horse, 
we  must  remember  that  this  is  not  a  classification 
into  natural  families.  A  perfectly  proper  classifi- 
cation on  the  other  hand  is  one  sometimes  used,  by 
which  exercises  are  divided  into  exercises  for 
strength,  for  coordination,  for  speed,  for  endurance, 
for  attention,  etc.  It  has  the  great  advantage  also 
of  denoting,  by  the  very  name  given  to  the  groups, 
the  desired  effects,  a  condition  which  is  of  no  mean 
value.  But  it  does  not  satisfy  our  needs,  if  we  con- 
sider the  chief  aim  of  gymnastics,  the  main  effects 
sought,  to  be  the  influences  on  the  organs  of  nutri- 
tion. A  group  of  exercises  for  strength  can  not 
be  admitted  by  him  who  looks  upon  the  acquirement 
of  muscular  strength  by  gymnastic  exercises  as  a 
mere  incident,  and  to  whom  increased  muscular 
strength  in  its  highest  degree  is  an  evil,  rather  than 
a  benefit.  "Exercises  for  coordination"  can  hardly 
be  admitted  even  though  coordination  is  a  benefit 
well  worth  striving  for,  because  such  admittance 


GYMNASTIC  TOTALITY  59 

opens  the  way  to  that  endless  coordination  for 
which  de  Paspee  made  himself  an  advocate,  and 
the  teacher  will  find  the  utmost  difficulty  in  finding 
his  way  among  the  rocks  of  "all  possibility,"  if 
it  be  not  clearly  indicated  that  the  coordination  that 
he  is  required  to  develop  is  only  the  coordination 
into  simple  basic  exercises,  while  the  power  of  more 
complex  coordination  shall  be  supplied  in  the  appli- 
cations in  the  gymnasium,  on  the  play  ground  and 
in  daily  life.  So  all  through  the  list. 

The  classification  that  we  need  for  guidance  in 
our  labor  for  the  all  rounded  development  of  the 
individual,  in  which  his  health  plays  the  chief  part, 
must  be  founded  upon  the  effects  that  the  exercise 
have  upon  the  vital  organs  and  their  functions. 
An  ideal  classification  would  be  one  which  grouped 
together  in  indissoluble  union  such  exercises  which 
affected  a  given  function  in  definite  manner.  We 
have  not  yet  reached  that  stage  of  knowledge,  and 
it  is  possible  that  we  never  may  reach  it.  In  the 
meantime  a  classification  which  fulfills  quite  far 
reaching  demands  in  this  direction,  has  been  es- 
sayed by  the  Swedes.  They  have  brought  together 
at  all  events  the  chief  exercises,  to  which  no  objec- 
tions can  be  raised,  into  natural  families,  each  of 
which  differs  from  the  others  in  their  main  effects, 
while  all  exercises  belonging  to  a  given  family  have 


60  GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

the  main  effects  in  common,  though  they  vary  in 
minor  details.  Whether  apparatus  be  used  for  an 
exercise  or  not  is  not  considered  in  the  classifica- 
tion. In  the  same  group  may  well  be  brought  an 
exercise  without  apparatus,  an  exercise  on  hori- 
zontal bar,  on  the  parallel  bars,  on  the  boom,  on  the 
ladderwall,  on  rings,  provided  they  all  affect  some 
definite  function  or  functions  in  essentially  the 
same  manner.  There  seems  no  doubt  that  the  class- 
ification to  be  generally  accepted  in  the  future  must 
be  on  such  a  basis.  The  classification  still  common 
in  this  country  into  "  light"  and  "heavy"  gym- 
nastics, into  "dumb  bell  exercises"  and  "Exercises 
on  the  bar,"  "on  the  long  horse,"  "on  the  side  horse" 
has  no  value  whatever  from  a  scientific  view  point 
though  it  may  be  a  matter  of  convenience  to  him 
who  devotes  himself  to  gymnastics  as  a  mere  art. 

One  objection  has  been  raised  against  the  classi- 
fication by  the  Swedes,  concerning  not  the  kernel 
but  the  mere  shell.  The  names  chosen  for  the 
"natural  families"  are  not  such  that  by  them  we 
are  immediately  led  to  the  thought  of  the  effects. 
If  you  have  no  knowledge  before  hand  of  the 
underlying  basis,  no  very  vivid  idea  of  the  desired 
effects  is  conveyed  to  you  by  such  terms  as  "tense 
bendings,"  "heave-movements,"  etc.  When  we 
hear  somebody  speak  of  an  "Exercise  for  strength," 


FIG.  14. 

"Trunk  bending  forward  in  which  all  of  the  vertebral  joints  par- 
ticipate is  detrimental  to  the  best  results."  (Compare  with 
Fig.  10.) 


GYMNASTIC  TOTALITY  61 

we  immediately  know  his  aim.  But  after  all,  if  the 
grouping  is  definite  and  based  upon  a  correct  con- 
ception, the  mere  names  matter  little.  They  are 
made  for  students  not  for  outsiders.  And  in  all 
sciences  terms  are  used  which  to  the  outsiders  con- 
vey no  idea.  Nobody  but  those  who  have  studied 
chemistry,  at  least  superficially,  can  understand 
that  H2O  stands  for  water,  nor  does  anybody  but 
an  electrician  know  what  is  meant  by  "Ohm," 
"Volt,"  and  "Ampere." 

Provided  now  that  we  have  classified  our  ma- 
terial according  to  its  effects  upon  the  organism, 
and  provided  'further  that  we  strive  for  an  all  round 
development,  it  follows  that  no  one  of  these  natural 
families  ought  to  be  practised  to  the  exclusion  of 
others,  but  that  by  a  judicious  choice  from  the  vari- 
ous families  we  shall  endeavor  to  influence  all  or- 
gans and  all  functions  to  the  degree  of  their  needs 
We  shall  keep  in  mind  that  harmony  between  the 
functions  is  our  goal,  that  all  sides  of  human  nature 
must  be  influenced  by  us,  that  general  efficiency  is 
what  we  strive  for,  not  extreme  ability  in  one  direc- 
tion. 

In  the  application  of  this  principle,  the  Swedes 
demand  that  each  lesson  shall  contain  as  great  a 
variety  of  exercises  as  is  possible,  and  in  order  to 
make  the  all  sidedness  complete,  they  make  each 


62  GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

lesson  contain  at  least  one  representative  of  each 
natural  family,  if  insurmountable  obstacles  do  not 
prevent. 

Every  lesson  should,  if  possible,  be  directed  to 
improvement  in  all  the  desired  directions.  Each 
lesson  must  consist  of  as  rich  material  as  we  pos- 
sibly can  give.  We  shall  not  consider  it  sufficient 
to  devote  our  attention  to  the  shoulder-girdle  to- 
day, to  the  abdomen  to-morrow.  But  the  whole 
man  must  be  considered  in  each  lesson.  The  pupil 
must  in  each  lesson  be  influenced  to  the  better  in 
all  the  different  ways  that  we  can.  Each  lesson 
should  give  a  sample  of  all  that  we  can  offer  by 
gymnastics.  The  samples  must  vary  from  day  to 
day,  but  the  main  types  must  recur  in  every  les- 
son. 

This  demand  of  allsidedness  in  each  lesson  is 
made  by  no  other  system.  Is  it  advantageous  or 
not?  The  answer  can  only  be  given  upon  the  basis 
of  experience.  The  adherents  of  that  system  claim 
good  results.  Their  claims  are  supported  by  many 
students.  A  friend  of  mine  representing  a  dif- 
ferent system  claims  that  there  is  an  absolute  neces- 
sity for  bringing  into  a  lesson  a  large  number  of 
exercises,  essentially  alike,  differing  only  in  small 
details,  in  order  that  thereby  the  proper  coordina- 
tion may  be  speedily  acquired.  He  claims  that  the 


GYMNASTIC  TOTALITY  63 

Swedish  gymnasts  never  learn  to  do  more  than  a 
few  exercises,  simply  because  they  flit  from  one 
kind  to  another  in  each  lesson.  We  shall  not  deal 
with  that  question  here.  Controversies  of  that  na- 
ture never  come  to  any  result.  "A  man  convinced 
against  his  will  retains  the  same  opinion  still."  Be 
it  sufficient  to  ask  the  question  if  the  lesson  has  for 
its  purpose  to  teach  gymnastic  exercises?  Is  it 
your  object  to  create  gymnasts?  In  other  words — 
are  the  gymnastic  exercises,  and  the  skill  displayed 
in  them,  the  ultimate  end  for  which  you  work?  If 
it  is,  then  choose  the  methods  giving  the  greatest 
ability  in  the  shortest  time,  whatever  that  may  be. 
If  it  is  not,  then  it  matters  little  whether  a  large 
number  of  exercises  have  been  learnt  or  not,  if  you 
only  have  accomplished  your  object.  Let  us  look 
at  a  typical  lesson  from  some  authoritative  work. 
Here  is  one  with  Wands. 

I.     1.  (Straight  arms)     In  front  forward. 

2.  Left  in  front  over. 

3.  (Straight  arms)     In  front  forward. 

4.  Down.  4  counts 
II.     1.   (Straight  arms)     In  front  forward. 

2.  Right  in  front  over. 

3.  (Straight  arms)     In  front  forward. 

4.  Down.  4  counts 
III.     1.   (Straight  arms)     In  front  forward. 


64  GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

2.  Left  in  front  over,  right  downward. 

3.  (Straight  arms)     In  front  forward. 

4.  Down.  4  counts 
IV.     1.   (Straight  arms)     In  front  forward. 

2.  Right  in  front  over,  left  down. 

3.  (Straight  arms)     In  front  forward. 

4.  Down.  4  counts 
V.     1.   (Straight  arms)     In  front  forward. 

2.  Left  in  front  over,  on  right  shoulder. 

3.  (Straight  arms)      In  front  forward. 

4.  Down.  4  counts 
VI.     1.   (Straight  arms)     In  front  forward. 

2.  Right    in    front    over,    on    the    left 

shoulder. 

3.  (Straight  arms)  In  front  forward. 

4.  Down.  4  counts 
VII.     1.   (Straight  arms)  In  front  forward. 

2.  Left  in  front  over  and  right  in  front 

over. 

3.  (Straight  arms)  In  front  forward. 

4.  Down.  4  counts 
VIII.     1.   (Straight  arms)  In  front  forward. 

2.  Left  in  front  over,  right  upward. 

3.  (Straight  arms)     In  front  forward. 

4.  Down.  4  counts 
IX.     1.  (Straight  arms)     In  front  forward. 

2.  Right  in  front  over,  left  upward. 

3.  (Straight  arms)      In  front  forward. 

4.  Down.  4  counts 


GYMNASTIC  TOTALITY  65 

X.     1.  (Straight  arms)     In  front  forward. 

2.  Left  in  front  (Middle  of  the  chest), 

right  downward. 

3.  (Straight  arms)     In  front  forward. 

4.  Down.  4  counts 
XL     1.   (Straight  arms)     In  front  forward. 

2.  Right  in  front  (Middle  of  the  chest), 

Left  downward. 

3.  (Straight  arms)     In  front  forward. 

4.  Down.  4  counts 
XII.     1.  (Straight  arms)     In  front  forward. 

2.  Left  in  front  (Middle  of  the  chest) 

right  upward. 

3.  (Straight  arms)  In  front  forward. 

4.  Down.  4  counts 
XIII.     1.  (Straight  arms)  In  front  forward. 

2.  Right  in  front  (middle  of  the  chest) 

left  upward. 

3.  (Straight  arms)  In  front  forward. 

4.  Down.  4  counts 
XIV.     1.  (Straight  arms)  In  front  forward. 

2.  Left  upward,  right  downward.     (The 

arms  remain  extended). 

3.  (Straight  arms)     In  front  forward. 

4.  Down.  4  counts 
XV.     1.  (Straight  arms)     In  front  forward. 

2.  Right  upward,  left  downward. 

3.  (Straight  arms)     In  front  forward. 

4.  Down.  4  counts 


66  GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

XVI  and  XVII.  Same  as  XIV  and  XV,  with 
both  arms  bent  in  vertical  position  in  front 
in  the  second  count. 

This  is  a  comparatively  simple  program,  in  fact  it 
is  supposed  to  be  the  seventh  lesson.  But  it  con- 
sists of  seventeen  exercises  each  of  four  counts,  or 
a  total  of  sixty-eight  movements  of  the  shoulders 
without  any  intermediate  action  of  legs  or  trunk. 
With  the  repetitions  necessary  to  secure  an  execu- 
tion satisfactory  to  the  teacher,  it  is  probably  well 
within  the  limits  of  probability  that  the  actual  num- 
ber of  movements  performed  rather  exceed  than  fall 
below  two  hundred.  That  all  these  movements  are 
in  front  of  the  body,  of  the  same  general  nature  as 
those  performed  in  daily  life  and  as  such  represent 
onesided  activity  without  corrective  influence  does 
not  here  concern  us.  That  is  a  matter  of  selection. 
The  question  you  shall  answer  each  to  himself  is 
this:  Is  it  to  the  best  interests  of  the  organism 
that  this  comparatively  large  number  of  movements 
of  the  same  part  of  the  body  shall  be  made  without 
intervening  rest  or  activity  of  other  parts  ? 

Let  us  look  upon  one  more  lesson  from  the  same 
authoritative  work,  this  time  choosing  the  first  les- 
son on  the  horizontal  bar. 


GYMNASTIC  TOTALITY  67 

Stand  directly  under  the  bar ;  the  bar  and  a  line  drawn 
through  the  shoulders  run  parallel.     Jump  into 

1.  Handhang;    overhold,    jump     off.     Repeat     several 
times. 

2.  As  exercise  1  with  underhold ;  also  1  and  %  alternately. 

3.  As  exercise  1,  with  twist  underhold. 

4.  Stand  as  before  at  the  left  end  of  the  bar;  jump  to 
overhang ;  overhold ;  travel  sideways  right  by  moving 
the  right  hand  four  or  five  inches  sideways,  following 
with  the  left.     Jump  off. 

5.  The  same  opposite. 

6.  As  exercise  4  and  5  with  underhold;  also  with  twist 
underhold. 

7.  As  exercise  4  and  5  in  a  bent  arm  hang  with  under- 
hold; also  with  overhold. 

8.  As    exercise   4,   moving   both   hands    simultaneously, 
bending    the    arms    slightly    immediately    before    the 
change. 

9.  As  exercise  8  with  underhold  also  in  bent  arm  hang. 

10.  A  handhang;  overhold;  change  the  right  hand  to  un- 
derhold; also  left  hand;  repeat  several  times;  jump 
off. 

11.  As  exercise  10,  changing  both  hands  immediately  to 
underhold;  bending  the  arms  just  before  the  change. 

12.  A  handhang;  overhold;  raise  the  right  knee  forward 
and  lower  in  two  counts ;  the  same  left. 

13.  As  exercise  12,  alternately  in  four  counts. 

14.  As  exercise  12,  raising  both  knees  and  lower. 


68  GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

15.  As  exercise  12,  13  and  14,  in  a  bentarm  hang,  with 
overhold  or  underhold,  raising  the  straight  legs  for- 
ward. 

16.  Bend  and  straighten  the  arms  as  often  as  possible, 
first  with  underhold,  then  with  overhold. 

17.  At  the  right  end   of  the  bar  handhang;   overhold; 
travel  left  sideways  with  a  half  turn  left  and  right 
alternately.     The  right  shoulder  moves  forward;  the 
right  hand  takes  overhold  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
bar;  the  left  retains  underhold;  then  the  same  left 
forward. 

18.  At  the  right  end  of  the  bar  under  hang;  travel  left 
sideways  with  a  half  turn  backward ;  continue  chang- 
ing from  underhold  to  overhold  alternately. 

This  plan  for  a  lesson  gives  opportunity  for  study 
in  many  directions.  We  might  well  consider,  for 
instance,  whether  the  selection  of  the  "twistunder- 
hold"  is  a  suitable  one  (Exercises  3  and  6),  or 
the  raising  of  the  straight  legs  forward  without 
support  for  the  body,  or  the  traveling  sideways  with 
turning  forward.  We  might  question  the  succes- 
sion of  the  movements,  and  we  may  first  and  fore- 
most ask  for  what  kind  of  pupils  is  this  first  lesson 
intended.  Is  it  for  children  just  beginning?  If 
so,  what  form  can  be  expected  from  them  in  such 
exercises  as  15  or  16?  If  it  is  intended  for  mature 


FIG.  15. 

Pronounced  tension  of  the  tissues  in  front  with  shortening  of  the 
back  muscles."     (Compare  with  Fig.  3£.) 


GYMNASTIC  TOTALITY  69 

gymnasts,  then  we  may  well  ask  whether  any  spe- 
cial practice  is  needed  in  such  exercises  as  1,  2,  4  or 
5.  But  these  are  questions  which  do  not  concern 
us  at  present.  We  are  now  more  interested  in  the 
fact  that  nominally  18,  but  in  reality  a  still  greater 
number  of  exercises,  are  used  in  succession,  in  all  of 
which  the  body  is  suspended  from  the  hands.  Is 
this  wise  ?  Is  this  an  example  of  the  much  vaunted 
variety?  Is  not  this  a  procedure  by  which  some 
parts  must  necessarily  be  slighted,  while  the  active 
ones  become  exhausted? 

Because,  though  the  shoulder-girdle  may  well  be 
used  for  hanging  exercises,  though  we  have  main- 
tained that  the  gymnastic  lesson  shall  act  as  a  coun- 
terbalance to  the  one-sided  activity  and  shall  con- 
tain exercises  of  a  different  nature  to  those  used  in 
daily  life,  we  do  not  thereby  mean  that  the  normal 
functions  shall  be  reversed.  The  shoulders  may 
well  be  used  for  moderate  exercises  in  handing,  but 
to  make  a  whole  lesson  of  these  exercises  is  certainly 
not  consonant  with  common  sense.  The  remark 
may  be  made  that  this  program  is  not  intended  as  a 
full  lesson.  That  other  exercises  are  to  be  prac- 
tised. I  suppose  that  to  be  true.  But  18  (or 
more)  exercises  practised  with  even  such  a  small 
class  as  a  dozen,  and  repeated  a  sufficient  number 


70  GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

of  times,  occupies  a  considerable  part  of  the  lesson, 
and  there  will  only  be  small  time  left  for  other  im- 
portant forms.1 

Those  who  build  their  lessons  in  this  manner  are 
of  course  fully  alive  to  the  greater  benefit  of,  let 
us  say,  daily  lessons  of  half  an  hour  each,  than  of 
one  weekly  lesson  of  three  hours,  but  they  do  not 
apparently  agree  with  us  that  what  is  true  of  the 
body  as  a  whole  is  equally  true  of  each  part.  That 
just  as  the  gymnastic  work,  to  be  most  highly  bene- 
ficial cannot  be  concentrated  upon  one  lesson  a 
week,  so  each  part  derives  most  benefit  if  it  is  called 
into  activity  every  day  rather  than  at  long  intervals 
even  though  the  total  amount  be  the  same. 

This  demand  of  the  Swedes  that,  so  far  as  cir- 
cumstances will  allow,  all  important  families  shall 
be  represented  in  each  day's  work,  that  no  im- 
portant organ  or  function  shall  be  overlooked  or 
slighted,  but  that  all  shall  receive  attention  corre- 
sponding to  their  importance  and  needs ;  that  single 

i  Since  writing  the  foregoing,  my  attention  was  called  to  an  error 
committed  by  me,  in  as  much  as  this  so  called  "lesson"  never  was 
intended  to  be  used  as  a  lesson,  but  only  to  exemplify  the  develop- 
ment of  a  "theme."  I  earnestly  regret  this  mistake  on  my  part, 
which  however  is  explicable  enough.  But  the  fact  criticized  is  not 
changed.  Any  one  may  see  in  practical  use  daily  actual  lessons, 
which  in  no  essentials  differ  from  this  developed  theme,  and  which 
certainly  do  not  recognize  the  principle  of  totality  as  seen  by  the 
Swedes. 


GYMNASTIC  TOTALITY  71 

parts  or  organs  shall  not  be  put  to  extreme  activity 
while  others  suffer  from  inactivity;  that  the  train- 
ing given  in  each  lesson  shall  not  be  onesided,  but 
shall  affect  the  whole  body,  the  whole  organism,  the 
whole  man,  has  been  called  the  principle  of  gym- 
nastic totality. 

Circumstances  may  of  course  be  such  that  there 
is  absolute  impossibility  of  adhering  strictly  to  this 
demand.  The  time  given  for  gymnastics  may,  for 
instance,  be  totally  inadequate.  Nobody  would  be 
able  to  present  even  one  representative  of  each  im- 
portant family  to  his  class  during  the  ten  minutes 
granted  by  some  school  authorities  for  "Exercises 
in  the  Class  Room."  Under  such  conditions  we 
must,  of  course,  resort  to  makeshifts,  but,  then,  the 
whole  procedure  is  a  makeshift  and  must  be  judged 
accordingly.  The  principle  is  not  violated  by 
necessary  changes  in  its  applications,  though  we 
should  not  forget  it  but  always  keep  it  before  our 
minds  so  that  we  depart  from  it  only  so  far  as  we 
are  absolutely  obliged  to  do.  Some  methods  by 
which  we  may  keep  as  close  to  the  principle  as  pos- 
sible even  when  we  cannot  apply  it  in  all  details, 
will  be  mentioned  later. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  PRINCIPLE  OF  GYMNASTIC  UNITY 

QRANTED  now  that  th^  principles  of  selection  and 
totality  be  accepted,  granted  in  other  words  that 
we  must  carefully  choose  our  exercises,  and,  after 
classifying  them  into  natural  families  according  to 
their  effects,  apply  a  great  variety  of  them  in  each 
lesson,  we  may  well  ask  the  question  whether  the 
representatives  of  the  different  families  may  be 
utilized  in  the  day's  lesson  at  haphazard,  or  whether 
it  may  not  be  possible  to  gain  better  results  by 
following  some  definite  sequence.  This  question 
forces  itself  upon  us  by  observation  in  other  fields. 
Darwin  pointed  out  that  every  animal  before  a 
supreme  effort  instinctively  makes  numerous  move- 
ments, which  seem  to  serve  the  purpose  of  put- 
ting it  in  a  favorable  condition  totally  apart  from 
the  mere  mechanical  advantage  of  suitable  pos- 
ture. The  bull  prepares  for  the  attack  by  paw- 
ing the  ground,  and  by  brandishing  his  horns 
and  by  bellowing.  The  cat  lashes  his  sides  with 
his  tail  before  springing  on  his  prey.  Even  man 

73 


74  GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

stretches  when  rising  in  the  morning,  and  if  he  be- 
comes embroiled  in  a  quarrel  which  may  end  in  a 
fight,  he  shows  a  tendency  to  make  movements  with 
arms  and  legs  which  apparently  serve  no  purpose. 
There  seems  to  be  some  need  to  be  filled  by  gesticu- 
lation of  some  kind.  And  we  have  more  or  less 
unconsciously,  perhaps,  made  application  to  this 
in  various  ways.  The  race  horse  is  put  through  a 
preliminary  canter  before  he  is  called  upon  to  exert 
himself  in  the  race.  The  baseball  players  always 
take  their  preliminary  practice,  before  the  game 
begins.  They  are  warming  up.  It  is  a  usual  ex- 
perience that  a  man  who  wishes  to  test  his  strength 
by  the  dynanometer  shows  greater  power  on  a  sec- 
ond trial  than  on  the  first  one.  Physiologists  have 
established  by  laboratory  experiments  that  the  first 
muscular  contraction  in  a  series  is  not  quite  so 
strong  or  complete  as  those  immediately  succeed- 
ing, but  that  there  is  a  preliminary  rise  in  the  curve 
before  it  descends  as  a  result  of  fatigue.  It  is  now 
quite  common  in  the  gymnasium  to  begin  with  some 
"warming  up"  exercises,  before  work  of  greater  in- 
tensity is  begun.  The  general  usefulness  of  some 
form  of  introductory  exercises  is  well  established 
and  we  may  well  assert  without  fear  of  serious  con- 
tradiction that  the  day's  lesson  must  begin  with 
mild  exercises.  It  is  not  necessary  to  cite  the  prob- 


GYMNASTIC  UNITY  75 

able  physiological  reasons  for  this,  but  simply  to 
refer  to  experience. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  practically  and  equally 
well  established  that  if  violent  and  prolonged  ef- 
forts are  made  to  the  very  limit  of  the  individual's 
powers,  a  sudden  cessation  of  the  activity  is  less 
favorable  than  a  gradual  decrease.  From  the 
pathological  field  experiences  in  this  regard  may  be 
quoted.  Suppose,  for  instance,  that  a  person  with 
an  organic  heart  trouble  makes  strong  and  con- 
secutive efforts.  Records  are  not  rare  of  men  with 
cardiac  affections  falling  dead  while  in  the  very  act 
of  lifting  a  heavy  weight.  But  it  is  surely  not  so 
common  that  a  man  has  met  his  fate  while  running. 
It  is  when  he  has  reached  his  goal,  when  he  has 
taken  his  seat,  when  the  activity  has  ceased,  that  the 
weakened  heart  fails  to  respond  to  the  calls  upon 
it.  I  know  of  no  authoritative  physiological  ex- 
planation of  this,  so  I  have  endeavored  to  theorize 
for  my  own  satisfaction  and  my  ideas  run  about  as 
follows:  The  circulation  is  carried  on  mainly  by 
three  agencies,  the  heart,  the  respiration,  and  the 
muscular  encroachments  upon  veins  and  lymph- 
atics. During  the  run  all  of  these  three  agencies 
are  at  work  to  their  utmost  capacity.  With  the 
sudden  cessation  of  activity  the  last  one  is  with- 
drawn and  a  greater  amount  of  work  therefore  falls 


76  GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

upon  the  others,  because  the  circulation  is  not  im- 
mediately restored  to  its  normal  rate.  The  heart 
was  assumed  to  be  worked  to  its  utmost.  It  now 
gets  more  to  do,  and  it  fails.  If  instead  the  mus- 
cles are  kept  working  with  a  descending  intensity 
they  continue  their  pumping  effects,  and  the  heart 
gradually  adjusts  itself  until  the  danger-point  is 
passed. 

But  we  do  not  deal  with  pathological  conditions. 
We  have  normal  individuals  to  deal  with  and  should 
draw  our  experience  from  such.  If  we  again  turn 
to  the  race  track,  we  find  that  experience  has  taught 
the  jockey  not  to  stop  as  he  has  passed  the  finishing 
line  but  to  walk  his  racer  about  at  least  for  a  few 
minutes  "to  cool  off."  Many  a  careful  trainer  does 
not  allow  the  athlete  who  comes  in  exhausted  from 
a  long  run  to  follow  his  inclinations  and  flop  down 
on  the  field  as  he  crosses  the  line,  but,  with  a 
sweater  thrown  over  him,  he  is  made  to  walk  up  and 
down  even  against  his  will,  dragged  along,  maybe, 
by  some  friend,  until  he  has  recovered  to  some  ex- 
tent. Now,  in  the  gymnasium,  we  do  not,  and 
should  not,  drive  our  students  to  the  point  of  col- 
lapse. But  it  is  our  business  to  have  them  make 
strong  efforts  and  both  respiratory  and  cardiac  ac- 
tions may  thereby,  to  a  certain  extent,  be  embar- 
rassed, while  the  heat  of  the  body  is  increased.  If 


GYMNASTIC  UNITY  77 

after  these  efforts,  intellectual  labor  shall  be  re- 
sumed in  sitting  posture,  may  it  not  be  well  to  take 
the  precaution  of  letting  the  system  gradually  quiet 
down  and  cool  off,  whereby  is  also  gained  the  ad- 
vantage of  bringing  the  pupils  into  fit  condition  to 
resume  their  studies  immediately  with  the  best  re- 
sults ?  Because  nobody  just  in  from  severe  physical 
activity  can  do  his  best  mental  work.  Some  min- 
utes must  elapse  before  the  system  has  readjusted 
itself  to  the  changed  conditions. 

Our  conclusions  are  therefore  that  just  as  we 
should  not  begin  our  work  with  exercises  requiring 
the  strongest  efforts,  neither  should  we  let  these 
come  at  the  very  end  of  the  lesson,  but  they  should 
be  followed  by  some  forms  of  milder  intensity  suit- 
able to  allow  the  heart  and  lungs  to  approach  their 
normal  degree  of  activity,  and  to  allow  the  surface 
temperature  to  decrease. 

This  procedure  seems  in  principle  to  be  accepted 
by  a  very  large  number  of  Physical  Directors. 
And  still  they  plan  their  lessons  in  such  a  way  that 
the  energy  curve  shows  a  steady  rise  to  the  very 
end.  They  explain  it  by  pointing  out  that  the 
march  from  the  gymnasium  to  the  class  room,  or 
the  walk  to  the  dressing  rooms  and  the  motions  in- 
volved and  the  time  spent,  in  the  changing  of 
clothes,  and  the  common  use  of  the  bath  after  the 


78  GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

gymnastics  makes  special  quieting  exercises  un- 
necessary. My  answer  to  this  is,  that  if  the  ne- 
cessity for  some  agency  of  a  quieting  nature  be 
conceded,  then  it  is  the  duty  of  the  teacher  to  see 
to  it  that  the  necessary  exercises  are  taken  before 
the  class  gets  out  of  his  control.  He  should  not 
rely  upon  what  the  pupils  are  doing  afterward,  in 
their  dressing  rooms,  etc.  That  which  is  necessary 
should  be  done  during  the  lesson,  not  be  left  to  the 
capricious  conduct  of  the  pupils  afterward.  And 
I  have  heard  no  reason  advanced  against  employing 
a  few  mild  exercises  at  the  end  of  the  lesson.  The 
only  reason  given  by  anybody  seems  to  be  that  it  is 
not  absolutely  necessary.  Those  who  do  not  see 
the  necessity  for  it  have  a  perfect  right  to  omit 
them.  But  those  who  believe  that  it  favors  the 
well-being  of  the  pupils  must  not  throw  the  re- 
sponsibility upon  the  pupils  themselves. 

One  more  example.  It  is  a  common  experience 
that  fine  coordination  is  impossible  after  severe  ef- 
fort. You  cannot  draw  well  immediately  after 
having  chopped  wood  or  rowed  a  mile  or  two  at  a 
good  rate.  You  have  not  the  necessary  control  of 
the  finer  movements.  That  observation  can  easily 
be  made  by  any  one  even  if  it  is  not  already  a  mat- 
ter of  every  one's  experience.  If  the  gymnastic 
lesson  is  to  contain  exercises  requiring  fine  adjust- 


GYMNASTIC  UNITY  79 

ments  as  well  as  those  calling  for  muscular  strength 
and  effort,  it  seems  justifiable  that  the  former 
should  precede  the  latter,  not  vice  versa. 

We  thus  observe  that  our  common  experience 
tells  us  that,  to  gain  the  best  results,  it  is  not  suffi- 
cient that  the  exercises  be  well-selected  and  all- 
sided,  but  that  some  attention  must  be  paid  to  the 
sequence  in  which  they  follow  each  other  in  the  les- 
son. In  other  words,  the  individual  exercises  must 
not  be  considered  as  perfectly  independent,  sepa- 
rate, and  distinct  entities  having  no  connection  with 
each  other,  no  bonds  of  union,  but  as  parts  of  an 
organic  whole,  a  unity,  having  relations  to  each 
other,  being  dependent  on  each  other,  and  mutually 
assisting  each  other  to  influence  in  the  most  favor- 
able manner  another  organic  whole,  another  unity, 
the  individual,  in  which  also  closely  dependent 
parts  exist.  It  is  not  enough  to  see  to  it  that  we 
give  only  exercises  which  are  beneficial  in  them- 
selves. It  does  not  suffice  that  we  say  to  ourselves 
that  we  have  applied  exercises  to  improve  all  the 
main  functions  and  organs.  We  must  also  consider 
whether  all  these  well-chosen  exercises  form  a  har- 
monious lesson  in  the  sense  that  one  does  not  annihi- 
late or  unduly  multiply  the  effects  gained  by  the  other 
by  being  placed  in  a  false  time  relation  to  it.  This 
is  what  we  call  The  Principle  of  Gymnastic  Unity. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  COMPOSITION  OF  THE  LESSON 

THE  plan  of  the  lesson  should  be  built  upon  these 
three  principles,  which  are  accepted  by  a  large  num- 
ber of  directors,  while  others  are  slowly  but  none 
the  less  surely  drifting  toward  them.  Exactly  how 
the  selection  shall  be  made,  exactly  what  functions 
or  organs  shall  be  considered  so  important  that  they 
shall  have  special  attention  every  day  even  when 
time  or  other  circumstances  prohibit  us  from  giving 
more  or  less  special  exercises  for  all,  and  exactly 
the  sequence  which,  in  general,  is  the  best  one,  these 
are  questions  of  application,  in  which  we  may  hon- 
estly differ  even  when  we  accept  the  principles. 

On  the  question  of  the  proper  sequence  there  is 
a  wide  divergence  of  opinion,  and  no  particular 
order  has  as  yet  been  supported  with  so  convincing 
proofs  that  we  can  hope  for  unanimity  in  this  re- 
gard in  the  near  future.  Because  of  the  fact  that 
the  Swedes  have  paid  more  attention  to  this  mat- 
ter than  anybody  else,  and  because  the  succession 
advocated  by  them  undoubtedly  gives  very  good 
results,  even  if  better  might  perhaps  be  gained  by  a 


81 


82  GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

different  arrangement,  it  is  well  in  any  discussion 
of  the  proper  planning  of  the  lesson  to  consider  well 
their  general  scheme.  In  doing  so  it  should  be  re- 
membered that  it  is  not  an  outgrowth  of  theoretical 
reasoning,  and  that  in  fact  they  do  not  endeavor 
to  give  any  other  reasons  for  the  plan  they  have 
adopted  than  that  experience  has  proved  it  to  be 
satisfactory.  It  is  not  based  on  laboratory  experi- 
ments, but  simply  and  solely  upon  observations 
made  directly  in  the  gymnasium.  Their  plan  is 
quite  universally  known  as  the  typical  Day's  Order. 

It  represents  the  idea  of  a  steady  rise  in  the 
energy  until  the  climax  is  reached  after  which  fol- 
lows a  rather  rapid  decline  to  the  end,  as  also  the 
idea  of  all-sided  activity  varied  in  such  a  manner  as 
gives  the  greater  effectiveness  to  the  lesson  as  a 
whole. 

It  begins  with  a  series  of  mild,  introductory  ex- 
ercises, always  taken  without  apparatus,  not  be- 
cause apparatus  work  is  "heavy,"  and  freework  is 
"light,"  but  because  time  is  saved  thereby,  and  be- 
cause it  is  desirable  to  pass  from  the  introduction 
to  the  real  work  in  the  briefest  possible  time. 
These  exercises  are  not  classified  according  to  their 
effects  upon  the  chief  functions,  but  simply  accord- 
ing to  the  part  of  the  body  thrown  into  activity, 
just  because  their  purpose  is  to  throw  all  main  mus- 


COMPOSITION  OF  THE  LESSON     83 


cular  groups  into  activity.  I  know  no  particular 
reason  for  the  sequence  in  which  they  follow  each 
other,  and  suspect  that  it  is  more  a  matter  of  habit 
and  routine  than  a  matter  of  principle.  It  may  be 
noticed,  however,  that  this  introductory  series  to  a 
limited  degree  is  a  miniature  of  the  day's  order  as 
a  whole,  and  there  consequently  may  have  been 
definite  reasons  for  the  sequence  actually  chosen. 
But  even  before  we  enter  upon  real  introduction, 
we  need  to  gain  control  of  the  class,  we  need  to 
catch  the  attention,  we  need  to  place  the  pupils  in 
postures  suitable  for  activity,  and  we  need  to  place 
them  in  such  relation  to  each  other  and  to  the  room, 
that  they  do  not  interfere  with  or  in  any  way  ham- 
per each  other,  but  that  each  can  take  the  exercises 
with  the  least  inconvenience  and  at  the  same  time 
be  under  the  effective  supervision  of  the  teacher. 
These  introductions  to  the  introductions,  are  what 
we  call  "ordermovements."  This  term  is  not  to  be 
considered  synonymous  with  the  German  "Ord- 
nungsuebungen."  The  latter  include  the  former, 
but  besides  that  they  cover  tactical  evolutions,  in 
the  strictest  sense,  as  also  marches  in  squares,  stars, 
circles,  spirals,  etc.  These  if  practised  require  a 
high  degree  of  attention  and  cannot  suitably  be 
given  immediately  after  a  lesson  or  strong  mental 
concentration.  They  are,  therefore,  so  far  as  they 


84  GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

are  used  at  all,  postponed  till  later  in  the  lesson, 
when  the  system  has  been  stimulated  by  activity, 
but  should  on  the  other  hand  not  be  taken  so  late 
that  actual  fatigue  has  set  in. 

The  leg  movements  appear  in  two  places  in  this 
series.  This  is  because  contraction  of  large  mus- 
cle masses  are  needed  to  stimulate  the  circulation 
and  because  it  is  desirable  that  we  rapidly  shall  gain 
revulsion  to  the  muscles  from  the  congested  abdo- 
minal organs  and  the  cerebro-spinal  system.  The 
latter  can  of  course  not  be  accomplished  if  the  ex- 
ercises themselves  involve  great  attention,  and 
among  leg  movements  we  have  a  large  number 
which  may  be  done  with  only  a  minimum  amount  of 
concentration.  The  first  leg  movement  is  fre- 
quently, in  fact  usually,  combined  with  some  form 
of  respiratory  exercise,  i.  e.,  some  movement  in  the 
respiratory  rhythm  of  such  form  that  the  chest 
becomes  alternately  expanded  and  relaxed.  The 
second  leg  movement  should  be  of  a  different  type 
from  the  first  one.  When  the  Introductions  are 
finished,  we  proceed  to  the  chief  work.  We  begin 
with  hyper  extensions  of  the  trunk  not  brought 
about  passively  by  the  weight  of  the  body  but  by 
strong  muscular  contraction  of  the  dorsal  muscles. 
In  the  execution  of  the  tense  bendings,  a  type  of 
which  is  depicted  in  Fig.  15,  there  is  great  temp- 


COMPOSITION  OF  THE  LESSON     85 

tation  for  the  teacher  to  proceed  faster  than  the 
ability  of  the  pupils  will  allow.  As  has  already 
been  said,  it  requires  no  mean  effort  by  the  average 
person  to  maintain  the  arms  fully  extended  above 
the  head.  When  he  then  is  required  to  bend  back- 
ward while  maintaining  the  arms  in  this  position 
the  task  becomes  very  much  more  demanding,  and 
if  not  controlled  thoroughly  by  the  teacher  he  re- 
laxes his  back  and  shoulder  muscles,  allows  his  body 
to  sink  down  between  the  arms,  executes  the  back- 
ward flexion  in  the  lumbar  region,  and  endeavors 
unconsciously  to  increase  the  depth  of  the  bending 
by  flexion  in  his  knees,  and  the  result  is  the  deform- 
ing posture  shown  in  Fig.  34. 

To  avoid  this,  proceed  slowly,  pay  particular  at- 
tention to  the  position  of  arms  and  head  which  also, 
like  the  former,  has  a  tendency  to  advance,  and 
make  the  flexion  in  the  upper  region  only. 

Immediately  after  this,  a  trunk-bending  forward 
and  downward  is  usually  made,  as  a  relief  from  the 
hyper  extension,  followed  by  some  form  of  exer- 
cise in  which  the  abdominal  muscles  are  strongly 
contracted,  for  instance  a  stoop-falling  posture, 
after  which  a  leg  movement  or  a  mild  form  of  jump- 
ing is  taken.  Now  follow  heave-movements,  by 
which  we  mean  exercises  in  which  the  weight  of 
the  body  is  wholly  or  partly  suspended  from  the 


86  GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

shoulders.  It  includes  all  kinds  of  hanging  by  the 
hands,  chinning,  arm  traveling,  climbing,  exercises 
in  balance  weighing  posture  ("rest"),  etc.  The 
chief  physical  effect  which  it  is  desired  to  give  by 
this  group  is  mobility  of  the  chest  in  the  inspiratory 
direction  during  strong  contraction  of  the  retractors 
of  the  scapulae.  It  is  evident  that  we  cannot  secure 
this  in  the  highest  degree  if  our  apparatus  forces 
us  to  bring  the  arms  forward  or  close  together,  as 
for  instance  in  climbing  on  vertical  ropes  or  poles, 
in  arm  traveling  on  the  boom,  but  an  endeavor 
should  always  be  made  to  maintain  the  head  and 
shoulders  well  carried. 

The  exercises  taken  up  to  this  time  have  been  of 
a  general  nature;  they  have  caused  a  revulsion  of 
the  circulation  from  the  viscera  to  the  motor  organs 
and  have  mechanically  expanded  the  thorax,  with- 
out being  of  such  severe  character  or  such  large 
quantity  that  fatigue  has  become  noticeable.  The 
whole  system  has  been  prepared  for  more  special 
exercises.  These,  in  accord  with  the  previous  dis- 
cussion, begin  with  such  exercises  as  require  con- 
siderable nervous  energy  without  corresponding 
strong  muscular  contraction;  in  other  words,  coor- 
dination exercises.  Of  these,  the  exercises  in  main- 
taining the  equilibrium  are  perhaps  the  most  im- 
portant ones  from  a  general  viewpoint,  serving  to 


• 


COMPOSITION  OF  THE  LESSON    87 

give  power  of  maintaining  erect  carriage.  Bal- 
ancing exercises  are  therefore  brought  in  here. 
They  are  usually  taken  as  freestanding  movements, 
while  such  balancing  exercises  as  require  apparatus 
are  commonly  taken  simultaneously  with  the  heave- 
movements,  each  pupil,  having  finished  the  latter 
returning  to  his  place  in  the  formation  by  means  of 
the  balancing  boards,  executing  on  these  the  pre- 
scribed exercise. 

Further  special  exercises  now  follow.  Usually 
provision  is  made  for  two  successive  series  of  ex- 
ercises for  neck,  shoulder  and  back,  for  abdomen, 
and  that  group  of  asymmetrical  trunk  movements 
which  have  been  called  lateral  trunk  movements. 
The  reason  why  two  series  of  these  are  employed  is 
to  be  sought  in  the  value  attached  to  them  as  pre- 
ventative  and  curative  of  common  defects.  It 
hardly  needs  to  be  mentioned  that  the  two  series 
should  not  be  identical,  but  must  be  chosen  in  such 
a  manner  as  to  present  the  greatest  variety  of  form ; 
the  second  series,  generally  speaking,  representing 
the  more  intense  activity.  For  practical  reasons, 
such  as  saving  of  time,  etc.,  it  is  habitual  to  com- 
pose one  of  the  series  (generally  the  first)  exclu- 
sively of.  free  movements,  while  for  the  other  ap- 
paratus is  employed.  The  two  series  are  always 
separated  from  each  other  by  some  milder  form  of 


88  GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

movement,  either  a  leg  or  a  respiratory  movement, 
or  marches,  mild  running,  and  tactical  evolutions. 

Immediately  after  the  second  series  of  the  spe- 
cial exercises,  or  separated  from  them  by  some  re- 
lief movements,  like  leg  movements,  come  applied 
exercises,  which  represent  the  highest  type  of  the 
work  both  as  to  general  coordination  and  energy 
expenditure.  The  forms  chosen  for  these  are  usu- 
ally some  form  of  heave  movements  such  as  ser- 
penting,  climbing  of  various  kinds,  etc.,  followed 
by  vaulting,  jumping,  and  other  precipitant  exer- 
cises. 

With  these  the  chief  work  of  the  day  is  ended, 
and  it  only  remains  somewhat  to  restore  the  system 
to  its  normal  condition,  for  which  a  lateral  trunk 
movement,  a  toe  march  or  other  mild  leg  move- 
ments and  a  respiratory  exercise  are  commonly 
employed. 

Such  is  the  general  scheme  of  a  lesson  given  ac- 
cording to  the  Swedish  system,  which  has  gained 
recognition  in  this  country.  A  great  mistake  is 
commonly  made  outside  of  the  Swedish  ranks,  that 
this  plan  is  a  straight- jacket  into  which  every  one 
should  be  pressed.  Nothing  is  further  from  the 
truth.  It  is  claimed  to  be  the  experience  of  a  hun- 
dred years  that  this  plan  enables  us  to  give  the 
greatest  variety  and  greatest  quantity  of  valuable 


FIG.  18. 

Strong  activity  of  the  pectoral  muscles  to  protect  the  shoulder 
joint.     (See  page  41.) 


COMPOSITION  OF  THE  LESSON     89 

exercises  in  the  shortest  time,  and  it  is  therefore 
insisted  that  each  one  does  well  in  considering  it  as 
a  reliable  guide.  But  it  must  be  a  guide  to  free- 
dom of  action,  not  be  the  sign  of  slavish  submission 
to  dogma.  It  is  claimed  that  the  less  prepared  a 
teacher  is  for  his  work,  the  more  is  he  in  need  of 
some  such  statement  of  what  experience  has  taught 
those  who  have  gone  before  him.  But  with  the 
growth  of  his  own  experience  he  becomes  more  and 
more  free  from  the  methods  of  others,  and  should 
substitute  his  own  judgment  for  that  of  his  pred- 
ecessors. If  this  experience  furnishes  him  with  a 
better  procedure,  it  is  his  duty  to  utilize  it.  Prog- 
ress is  not  made  by  changing  rules  simply  because 
of  fancy.  If  you  have  any  reason  which  seems  to 
your  own  judgment  to  be  an  adequate  one,  make 
the  changes  you  desire,  but  do  not  make  these 
changes  without  any  reason  at  all.  Such  is  rule. 
The  teacher's  individuality  must  have  full  sway. 
But  freedom  must  not  be  confounded  with  law- 
lessness. 

Let  us  consider  some  changes  which  because  of 
the  ever-changing  conditions  under  which  we  teach 
must  be  made  more  or  less  frequently  by  every  one, 
changes  which  are  not  only  permissible,  but  abso- 
lutely required  by  any  teacher,  who  is  not  a  mere 
machine. 


90  GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

1.  In  the  general  scheme  put  before  us,  we  have 
order  movements  at  the  beginning  of  the  lesson. 
Every  one  must  recognize  the  absolute  necessity  of 
their  use  before  other  work  is  undertaken.     Order 
must  be  gained.     Discipline  must  be  established. 
The  teacher  must  get  into  control  of  the  class.     But 
though  this  is  an  absolute  necessity  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  lesson,  it  is  no  less  necessary,  that  this 
order,  and  discipline,  and  control  should  be  con- 
tinued.    Now  it  happens,  it  must  happen,  in  every 
lesson,  that  sooner  or  later  the  order  is  disturbed, 
the  control  lessened,  the  formal  discipline  relaxed. 
Some  extraneous  circumstances  may  divert  the  at- 
tention of  the  pupils,  their  activity  may  bring  the 
ranks  awry,  the  distances  may  increase  or  diminish, 
the  synchrony  of  motion  may  become  lost  from  some 
reason  or  other.     Should  we  then  go  on  with  our 
lesson  without  taking  account  of  these   factors? 
Certainly  not.     We  shall  again  reestablish  order; 
we  shall  again  assert  our  control;  we  shall  again 
employ  order  movements  in  order  to  do  our  work  to 
the  best  advantage.     The  typical  day's  order  shows 
us  the  place  where  order  movements  are  absolutely 
essential  under   all  conditions.     In  the   practical 
work,  order  movements  should  be  brought  in  any- 
where when  needed. 

2.  Suppose  that  the  class  shows  signs  of  undue 


COMPOSITION  OF  THE  LESSON    91 

fatigue  while  we  are  following  the  general  plan. 
This  may  be  due  to  poor  judgment  of  the  teacher. 
It  may  be  due  to  extra  hard  work  in  the  school,  of 
which  the  teacher  may  not  be  cognizant.  It  may 
be  due  to  unusually  sweltering  weather.  It  may 
be  due  to  a  thousand  and  one  circumstances. 
Though  we  may  decrease  the  general  severity  of  the 
lesson  as  planned,  by  giving  less  strenuous  exercises 
in  the  various  groups,  we  may  well  think  of  giv- 
ing a  greater  number  of  relief  movements,  leg  move- 
ments, respiratory  movements  and  the  like,  requir- 
ing little  mental  and  physical  exertion,  even  if  the 
typical  plan  does  not  distinctly  provide  for  them. 
We  often  see  that  long  rests  are  given  in  the  gym- 
nasium. Pupils  are  allowed  to  sit  or  lie  down. 
This  is  a  mistake.  The  rest  in  the  gymnasium 
should  be  furnished  by  change  in  activity,  not  by 
cessation  of  activity.  Common  sense  should  rule 
supreme  over  pre-arranged  plans.  No  violation  of 
principle  is  done  by  changing  the  plan  according  to 
circumstances.  Common  sense  demands  it.  The 
plan  is  not  our  master.  It  is  simply  a  guide. 

3.  Suppose  that  we  have  divided  up  our  class 
into  sections  for  work  on  the  apparatus  and  that 
the  latter  are  insufficient  in  number  to  accommo- 
date all  simultaneously  in  the  tense-bendings,  or 
in  the  heave  movements,  or  the  movements  for  the 


92  GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

neck,  shoulders,  and  back,  or  the  movements  for 
the  abdomen,  or  the  lateral  trunk  movements.  I 
see  no  reasons  to  uphold  the  inviolability  of  the  gen- 
eral plan  of  such  strength  that  they  can  overbal- 
ance the  evils  of  giving  the  class  some  unsuitable 
exercises  or  of  allowing  them  to  remain  in  inac- 
tivity. The  duty  of  the  teacher  under  such  con- 
ditions is  to  change  the  sequence  for  part  of  the 
class,  allowing  for  instance  some  sections  to  take 
tense  bendings  while  the  rest  take  heave  move- 
ments, and  then  allowing  the  latter  to  take  tense 
bendings  while  the  former  take  heave  movements, 
part  of  the  class  to  take  movements  for  neck,  shoul- 
ders and  back,  while  others  take  abdominal  exer- 
cises, and  still  others  take  lateral  trunk  movements, 
and  so  on. 

4.  Suppose  that  the  time  allowed  us  is  too  short 
to  follow  out  the  rather  elaborate  plan  for  a  les- 
son presented  here.  Shall  we  then  consider  it  is 
impossible  to  follow  the  spirit  of  that  plan  simply 
because  we  cannot  carry  it  out  to  the  letter?  Com- 
mon sense  of  course  dictates  that  we  shall  abbre- 
viate the  plan,  maintaining  its  essential  features. 
Various  methods  of  doing  this  suggest  themselves  to 
any  thinking  teacher,  as  for  instance: 

A.  We  may  exclude  one  exercise  of  a  given  fam- 
ily, which  is  represented  by  more  than  one  type. 


COMPOSITION  OF  THE  LESSON    93 

B.  We  may  exclude  on  alternate  days  exercises 
which,  though  not  of  the  same  family,  have  effects 
which,  so  to  say,  overlap  each  other's. 

C.  We  may  make  combinations  in  many  ways, 
in  which  characteristics  of  several  families  enter, 
or  we  may  make  sequences,  different  parts  of  which 
represent  different  families. 

a.  Make  a  sequence,  by  taking  the  "weighing 
posture"  on  the  boom,  following  it  by  a  somersault 
over  the  boom,  finishing  in  tense  bending  posture, 
and  possibly  doing  some  exercise  in  that  posture. 

b.  Or,  for  instance,  by  vaulting  over  an  obstacle 
by  the  means  of  the  vertical  ropes,  by  using  the 
seesaw,  or  the  giant  swing. 

Many  other  methods  will  easily  suggest  them- 
selves, by  which  the  general  idea  of  the  typical 
day's  order  remains  intact,  but  its  usual  form  is  so 
varied  that  it  can  be  recognized  only  by  those 
thoroughly  familiar  with  the  underlying  principles. 
That  such  changes  should  be  made  with  due  con- 
sideration to  all  the  conditions  need  hardly  be 
stated.  It  would  carry  us  too  far  to  enlarge  on 
this  subject.  Suffice  it  in  this  connection  to  say 
that  if  abdominal  exercises  be  excluded  some  day, 
when  lateral  trunk  movements  in  the  form  of  trunk 
twisting  are  used,  it  seems  to  be  best  in  accord 
with  the  principle  of  gymnastic  totality  to  intro- 


94  GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

duce  the  abdominal  element  in  some  other  family. 
We  might  on  such  a  day  employ  as  heave  move- 
ments a  hanging  with  leg  raising  forward,  and  its 
derivatives,  while  on  a  day  when  the  regular  ab- 
dominal exercises  were  given  but  no  regular  lateral 
trunk  movements,  a  serpentining  through  the  lad- 
der would  be  in  place  as  a  heave  movement. 

5.  Fancy  steps  and  dancing  are  exercises  for 
such  classes  who  have  a  suitable  preparation  for 
them.     Old  folk  dances  should  be  taken  up  by  the 
Physical  Director  wherever  possible.     Is  there  in 
the  day's  order,  as  given,  any  place  for  them?     I 
have  found  no  difficulty  in  introducing  'them  in  my 
lessons,  without  making  any  change  in  the  general 
plan.     The  first  instruction  in  the  form  of  steps 
seems  to  be  so  closely  allied  to  balancing  exercises, 
that  they  may  well  take  the  place  of  these.     As 
soon  as  the  form  is  fairly  mastered  and  it  becomes 
a  matter  of  allowing  one  movement  rapidly  to  glide 
over  into  another  to  form  a  harmoniously  coordi- 
nate whole,  a  tour  or  figure,  its  substitution  for 
vaulting  and  jumping  lies  so  near  at  hand,  that 
even  the  most  tender  Swedish  conscience  receives 
no  shock. 

6.  Play  and  games  belong  in  the  gymnasium 
as  complements  to  the  formal  exercises,  though 
they,  as  before  stated,  should  not  be  confounded 


FIG.  19. 

The  muscles  of  the  back  which  need  strengthening  are  inactive, 
while  the  anterior  muscles  oppose  the  strain.     (See  page  41.) 


COMPOSITION  OF  THE  LESSON    95 

with  them.  A  mistake  seems  to  be  made  frequently 
by  separating  the  games  from  the  regular  instruc- 
tion, often  as  a  suitable  ending  to  the  lesson,  some- 
times as  a  premium  for  lack  of  discipline.  The 
majority  of  games  require  severe  running.  These 
should  be  occasionally  used  instead  of  vaulting  and 
running.  For  small  children  there  are  many  at- 
tractive little  plays  which  may  be  used  with  such 
simple  tactical  evolutions  as  may  be  suitable  for 
their  age.  An  example  is  "The  King  of  France, 
with  forty  thousand  men,  marched  up  the  hill,  and 
then  marched  down  again." 

If  we  wish  to  introduce  some  play  every  day,  a 
method  to  be  recommended  is  to  substitute  a  certain 
game  for  the  formal  gymnastic  exercise,  which  it 
most  closely  resembles.  Thus  let  us  for  instance 
on  Mondays  exclude  the  regular  heave  movements, 
and  play  "hang  tag"  in  its  place.  On  Tuesdays 
let  the  balancing  exercises  go  by  the  board,  but  play 
"Fighting  roosters."  On  Wednesdays,  we  may 
exclude  the  formal  exercise  for  neck,  shoulder  and 
back,  and  play  a  kind  of  "Tug-of-War,"  by  having 
the  pupils  formed  in  line,  sit  down  on  the  floor  feet 
to  feet,  and  grasping  each  other's  hands,  endeavor- 
ing to  raise  each  other  up  to  standing  posture  by 
strongly  extending  legs  and  backs.  On  Thurs- 
days we  might  be  "weighing  salt"  instead  of  ab- 


96  GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

dominal  exercises,  and  on  Fridays  try  to  initiate 
the  boys  at  least  in  the  rudiments  of  wrestling  in- 
stead of  lateral  trunk  movements,  or  we  may  teach 
them  to  do  the  "Cart  wheel." 

In  brief,  the  plan  may  be  followed  and  still 
varied  in  so  many  ways  that  the  thoughtful  teacher 
suffers  rather  from  embarrassment  because  of  the 
richness  of  the  material  at  his  hands  than  from  the 
opposite  condition. 

What  objection  is  there  to  some  such  plan  for  our 
lessons?  Are  the  Physical  Directors  prejudiced 
against  it  without  reason?  Or  do  they  refuse  to  ac- 
cept it  because  of  inertia?  Or  is  the  plan  really  in- 
ferior to  absence  of  plan? 


CHAPTER  VI 

PROGRESSION 

ANY  change  in  the  exercises  in  order  to  gain  a 
more  complete  or  more  rapid  effect  in  the  desired 
direction  by  taking  advantage  of  advancing  devel- 
opment we  call  progression. 

In  every  lesson  there  should  be,  as  far  as  possible, 
such  a  change.  That  is  the  content  of  the  principle 
of  unity.  Each  group  of  exercises  to  a  certain  ex- 
tent prepares  for  those  which  follow.  There  should 
be  progression  in  each  lesson. 

But  even  from  day  to  day,  from  week  to  week, 
from  year  to  year,  we  must  change  our  exercises  in 
accord  with  the  development  of  the  pupil.  Not,  of 
course,  that  a  program  made  up  for  to-day  needs 
necessarily  be  discarded  for  a  new  one  to-morrow. 
But  sooner  or  later  changes  must  take  place  if  we 
shall  expect  that  our  work  shall  be  a  factor  in  de- 
velopment. Constant  repetitions  can,  at  best,  only 
maintain  the  development  once  gained. 

Nobody  can  state  a  priori  how  soon  an  exercise 
should  be  modified,  nor  exactly  what  elements  of 
the  exercise  should  be  retained  and  what  should  be 

97. 


98  GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

varied.  The  determining  factors  are  too  many  and 
too  complex  to  be  brought  under  precise  laws. 
They  depend  on  the  ability  and  personality  of  the 
teacher,  on  the  ability  and  personality  of  the  pupils, 
on  their  age,  strength,  sex,  occupation,  home-condi- 
tions, on  the  time  devoted  to  the  work,  of  the  fur- 
nishings of  the  gymnasium,  on  a  thousand  and  one 
things  varying  with  each  class. 

In  such  school  systems  where  the  physical  train- 
ing is  in  charge  of  a  technically  trained  director, 
acting  in  a  supervisory  capacity,  while  the  actual 
work  is  carried  out,  mainly  if  not  exclusively,  by 
the  regular  class  teacher  without  technical  train- 
ing, the  custom  has  grown  up  to  supply  the  latter 
with  slips  or  cards  with  a  number  of  exercises. 
The  class  teacher  takes  card  No.  1  and  goes  through 
the  exercises  given  thereon  for  a  certain  limited 
time,  after  which  she,  on  a  certain  date,  drops  them, 
substituting  a  new  set  of  exercises  on  card  2,  and 
so  on.  This  is  Progression,  but  it  is  progression 
by  leaps  and  starts.  Under  the  conditions,  some 
such  plan  is  perhaps  the  only  practical  one.  It  is 
a  matter  of  administration.  It  probably  could  be 
modified  somewhat  to  advantage.  It  is  safe  to 
say  that  no  teacher  with  pedagogic  instinct  should 
proceed  exactly  in  that  manner.  However  well 
chosen  the  exercises  may  be,  they  are  chosen  by  a 


PROGRESSION  99 

person  other  than  the  one  who  is  to  apply  them, 
a  person  of  different  mental  make-up.  They  are 
chosen  and  combined  for  an  imaginary  class  of 
imaginary  pupils,  not  for  the  particular  class  with 
which  the  teacher  deals.  They  may  be  suitable  for 
the  average  child,  but  not  for  the  exact  children 
in  question.  Every  teacher  should  make  up  her 
own  programs,  using  the  published  ones  as  guides 
to  be  consulted,  but  not  to  be  strictly  followed. 

Furthermore,  whether  the  teacher  makes  up  her 
own  plans  or  not,  and  even  when  the  individual  ex- 
ercises are  arranged  in  the  best  possible  manner, 
so  as  to  correspond  to  the  ability  of  the  class,  it  will 
always  be  found  that  one  or  a  few  are  mastered 
before  some  others.  These  should  of  course  be 
dropped  for  new  ones  of  the  same  family  independ- 
ent of  whether  the  other  exercises  in  the  day's  order 
need  to  be  further  improved  or  not.  In  each  fam- 
ily there  shall  be  a  progression  to  the  highest  possi- 
ble ability,  always  however  avoiding  specialization. 

A  good  plan  is  to  make  out  before  the  beginning 
of  the  course  a  different  set  of  day's  orders  for  each 
day  in  the  week,  and  to  progress  in  each  set  some- 
what independently.  Thus,  if  we  are  to  give  les- 
sons each  Monday,  Wednesday  and  Friday,  make 
out  three  sets  of  Day's  Orders,  which  we  might 
designate  as  follows: 


100         GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

MONDAYS: 

At  B!  C,  D!  EI  F!  Gi 

A2   JD2    ^2  -L^2   -1^2    A*  2   vX2 
AS  B3   C3  DS  E3  F3   G3 


a2  b2  c2  d2  e2  f  2  g2 
a3  b3  c3  d3  e3  fs  gs 

FRIDAYS: 

A!  B!  Ci  D!  E!  F!  GI 

A2  B2  C2  1)2  E2  F2  G2 
A3  B3  C3  D3  E3  F3  G3 

All  A-s,  a-s  and  A-s  are  of  the  same  family,  but 
of  different  types,  AI,  A2,  A3,  denoting  three  exer- 
cises progressively  arranged  out  of  the  same  type, 
in  the  same  family  from  which  ai,  a2,  a3  are  three 
progressively  arranged  exercises  of  another  type, 
and  so  on. 

In  practice,  the  progression  on  successive  Mon- 
days could  then  be  denoted  as  follows: 

A!    B!    Cj   D!    EI    Ft    G! 

Ax    (BO    B2  Ci  D!  E!  F!  Gl 


FIG.  20. 

The  wand  acts  as  a  brace  to  overcome  which  the  pectoral  muscles 
contract.     (See   page   42.) 


PROGRESSION  101 

(A,)  A2  B2  C  Ci  D2  E2  F!  d 

A2  (BO  (B2)  C2  DL  D2  Ei  F2  G2 
A3  (B.)  (Ci)  (C2)  E2  E2  F2  G3 
A3  (B,)  (B,)  C3  D3  E2  (Ft)  F3  G3 

S  GS  DS  ES  I?  3  GS 


the  exercises  in  parentheses  denoting  repetitions. 
But  the  important  question  for  us  to  decide  is 
how  to  judge  which  one  of  a  number  of  exercises  of 
the  same  general  effect  should  be  taught  first,  and 
which  one  should  succeed.  Which  one  of  all  the 
A-s  should  be  used  as  Ai,  which  one  as  A2,  A3? 
What  is  the  difference  between  BI,  B2,  and  B3, 
which  makes  us  place  them  in  that  definite  order? 
The  science  of  gymnastics  is  in  such  an  embryonic 
ite  that  we  have  as  yet  established  no  generally 
icpted  laws  according  to  which  we  may  progress. 
re  mostly  rely  upon  a  more  or  less  indistinct  feel- 
ig  that  a  certain  exercise  is  "harder,"  "more  diffi- 
ilt"  than  another.  And  in  our  present  incomplete 
lowledge  it  is  impossible  to  give  universal  laws. 
.11  that  may  possibly  be  done  is  to  make  an  en- 
leavor  to  put  into  words  some  of  the  experiences 
gained  in  individual  cases,  in  the  hope  that  they  may 
jrve  as  material  out  of  which  at  some  time  in  the 
Future  definite  laws  may  be  formulated. 


102         GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

The  gymnastic  exercises  with  which  we,  as  teach- 
ers, deal  are  muscular  contractions,  induced  by  nerv- 
ous impulses.  The  muscular  contractions  and  the 
nervous  impulses  are  the  causative  forces.  The 
effectiveness  of  a  physical  force,  or,  as  the  physicist 
expresses  it,  "the  moment  of  the  impulse,"  is  meas- 
ured by  the  formula  fr.t.  which,  translated  into 
common  language,  means  that  the  effectiveness  is 
the  product  of  the  intensity  of  the  force,  the  distance 
through  which,  and  the  time  during  which  it  acts. 
The  time  will  probably  arrive  when  only  exact  state- 
ments borrowed  from  the  physical  and  mathemat- 
ical sciences  will  be  admitted  to  full  citizenship  in 
a  biological  science.  But  that  time  is  certainly  not 
yet  at  hand  so  far  as  concerns  gymnastics,  and  we 
will  therefore  limit  ourselves  simply  to  say  that, 
according  to  the  general  formula,  the  effectiveness 
of  an  exercise  may  be  increased,  progression  may  be 
made,  by  increasing  either  of  the  causative  agencies, 
the  muscular  contraction  or  the  nervous  impulse 
either  in  intensity,  extent,  or  duration. 

Supposing  the  extent  and  duration  of  a  muscular 
contraction  to  remain  unaltered,  its  intensity  may  be 
measured  by  the  resistance  which  is  overcome.  This 
resistance  is  of  a  complex  nature.  Of  most  impor- 
tance is  that  offered  by  gravity,  which  is  dependent 
on  two  factors,  the  mass  (weight)  moved  (or  sus- 


PROGRESSION  103 

tained),  and  the  lever  upon  which  gravity  acts. 
Other  conditions  being  equal,  the  intensity  of  the 
muscular  contraction  is  due  to  an  increase  of  either; 
and  our  first  "Progressive  Law"  is  therefore : 

(1.)  Of  two  exercises  involving  the  same  mus- 
cular groups  in  contractions  of  the  same  extent, 
speed  and  duration,  that  one  is  more  advanced  in 
which  a  greater  weight  is  moved,  or  sustained. 

There  are  three  distinctively  different  modes  of 
progression  according  to  this  "Law."  In  "Stand- 
ing Arm  bending  upward"  the  weight  moved  by  the 
flexors  of  the  elbows  is  that  of  the  forearms.  To 
increase  the  intensity  of  the  contraction,  the  ap- 
parently simplest  mode  is  to  add  a  new  weight  by 
holding  an  object  in  the  hands.  This  is  a  common 
means  of  progression  everywhere,  though  it  is  more 
habitual  in  this  country,  less  in  Germany,  and  still 
less  in  Sweden.  In  fact,  it  is  a  quite  general  im- 
pression that  the  Swedes  never  use  any  external 
resistance  at  all.  It  may  not  be  out  of  place  to 
deny  that  here.  There  is  no  objection  by  the  Swed- 
ish gymnasts  to  the  employment  of  external  resist- 
ance of  any  kind.  The  objection  is  not  against  the 
apparatus,  but  against  the  manner  in  which  they 
are  commonly  used.  In  the  Royal  Central  Insti- 
tute, as  well  as  in  the  Swedish  Army  and  Navy,  the 
rifle  is  frequently  employed  for  the  purpose  of  fur- 


104         GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

nishing  an  extra  weight,  and  dumb-bells,  Indian 
clubs,  and  metal  wands  are  not  totally  unknown, 
though  their  use  is  not  generally  encouraged  because 
of  what  is  considered  to  be  a  great  temptation  to  use 
them  erroneously,  and  because  the  increased  re- 
sistance may  be  gained  by  other  means  which  are 
considered  both  simpler  and  safer. 

One  is  to  employ  the  resistance  of  another  per- 
son. By  the  mutual  resistance  of  the  gymnasts, 
time  is  saved.  There  is  no  loss  in  fetching  and  re- 
moving the  portable  apparatus,  and  there  is  no 
reason  why  a  large  number  of  exercises  should  be 
performed  in  succession  with  this  other  resistance, 
causing  local  fatigue.  This,  they  say,  is  one  of  the 
inconveniences  of  dumb-bells,  Indian  clubs,  etc. 
But  furthermore,  the  resistance  offered  by  the  ap- 
paratus is  fixed  and  invariable,  while  the  moving 
force,  the  muscular  contraction,  varies  with  the  de- 
gree of  contraction.  It  is  therefore  more  advan- 
tageous to  have  an  intelligence  behind  the  resistance, 
by  which  it  can  be  moderated  according  to  the 
changing  strength.  In  gymnastics  for  therapeutic 
purposes,  this  mode  of  increasing  the  intensity  of 
the  contraction  is  extremely  common,  and  can 
hardly  be  surpassed,  the  resistance  being  given  by 
a  trained  gymnast.  In  the  usual  class  work  it  is, 
of  course,  far  less  applicable,  because  the  pupils  can 


PROGRESSION  105 

only  in  exceptional  cases  be  supposed  to  have  that 
training  and  gymnastic  sense  without  which  the 
supposed  advantage  becomes  a  delusion.  It  can 
practically  only  be  used  in  classes  of  adolescents  or 
adults  with  a  training  extending  over  several  years. 

In  this  connection  it  may  perhaps  be  appropriate 
to  call  attention  to  one  undesirable  feature  of  such 
apparatus  in  which  the  resistance  is  furnished  by  an 
elastic  body,  a  spring  or  a  cord.  In  this,  the  re- 
sistance is  smallest  at  the  beginning  of  the  move- 
ment, and  grows  constantly  to  its  end.  But,  aside 
from  considerations  of  leverage,  the  force  with 
which  a  muscle  contracts,  decreases  with  the  degree 
of  contraction.  When  the  muscle  is  strongest  we 
have  least  resistance.  When  the  muscle  is  weak- 
est, the  resistance  is  greatest. 

Instead  of  using  external  weights,  elastic  resist- 
ance, or  opposing  the  movement  by  another  person, 
we  may  find  the  increased  weight  within  the  body  it- 
self. We  are  in  the  habit  of  speaking  of  the  at- 
tachments of  a  muscle  as  its  origin  and  its  inser- 
tion, meaning  by  the  former  the  fixed  point  and  by 
the  latter  the  movable  point.  But  this  fixity  of  one 
end  and  this  mobility  of  the  other  is  not  absolute. 
The  designation  is  made  in  accord  with  the  habitual 
conditions.  But  these  may  be  reversed,  so  that  the 
commonly  fixed  point  becomes  the  movable  one 


106         GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

and  vice  versa.  And  by  this  "reversal  of  origin" 
changes  of  the  weight  may  be  made.  Thus,  for  in- 
stance, the  hips  are  flexed  by  a  number  of  muscles, 
the  most  important  of  which  are  the  psoas  and  the 
iliacus.  In  a  lying  posture  their  contraction  will 
flex  the  lower  extremities  upon  the  trunk.  But  if 
the  feet  be  supported,  the  same  muscles  will  flex  the 
trunk  upor  the  extremities.  This  is  an  example  of 
progression  by  reversed  origin.  Extension  of  the 
elbows  is  done  by  the  triceps.  Under  normal  con- 
ditions the  moving  weight  is  the  forearm.  But  by 
inclining  the  body  forward  and  supporting  it  by  the 
hands,  the  lower  attachment  becomes  the  fixed 
point,  and  the  weight  moved  will  be  a  considerable 
portion  of  the  body.  The  origin  has  been  reversed 
and  the  progression  made.  The  flexors  of  elbows 
normally  have  their  movable  point  below  the  elbows 
and  the  weight  they  move  is  only  the  forearm.  But 
fix  the  latter,  for  instance,  by  hanging,  the  origin  is 
reversed,  and  again  a  considerable  part  of  the  body 
weight  constitutes  the  load  to  be  overcome.  It  is 
advisedly  said  a  "considerable  part  of  the  weight," 
because  though  it  is  commonly  said  that  in  this 
posture  the  arms  are  flexed  by  the  biceps  group,  we 
of  course  all  understand  that  they  by  no  means  do 
it  all,  but  that  the  main  work  in  reality  falls  upon 
the  adductors  of  the  upper  arms.  By  suitable  pos- 


i  m 


FIG.  21. 
Pectoral  activity  often  mistaken  for  dorsal.     (See  paye  42.) 


PROGRESSION  107 

tures  the  work  of  the  flexors  may  be  nicely  graded 
through  a  long  series  of  exercises  of  ever-increasing 
difficulty,  and  to  a  certain  extent  the  necessity  of 
utilizing  external  resistance  is  thereby  obviated. 

Increased  intensity  of  muscular  contraction  is 
also  required  if  the  weight,  though  unchanged,  is 
differently  distributed  so  as  to  act  upon  a  longer 
lever,  which  may  be  expressed  in  this  law: 

(2.)  Of  two  exercises  in  which  the  same  weight  is 
moved  an  equal  distance  during  an  equal  time,  or 
sustained  in  the  same  position  for  an  equal  time, 
that  one  is  more  advanced  in  which  the  weight  acts 
upon  the  greater  lever. 

If  one  assumes  a  lying  posture  and  lifts  the  legs 
with  extended  or  with  flexed  knees,  the  same  weight 
is  moved  in  both  cases,  but  in  the  former  the  grav- 
ity acts  upon  a  longer  lever.  Similar  relations  de- 
termining the  progression  we  have  in  reclining  the 
body  in  a  sitting  posture  with  the  arms  extended 

>ve  the  head  or  placed  on  the  hips. 

It  should  be  noticed  that  the  weight  lever  changes 
luring  most  movements.  Thus  in  the  lying  leg- 

dsing  given  as  example,  the  lever  is  greatest  at 
beginning  of  the  movement,  and  decreases 
;eadily  until  the  legs  form  a  right  angle  with  the 
ly,  when  it  is  zero.  If  the  movement  be  con- 

med  beyond  that  point,  the  lever  becomes  a  minus 


108         GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

quantity,  that  is  gravity  no  longer  resists  the  flex- 
ors  but  assists  them,  or  relieves  them  of  all  work, 
the  extensors  of  the  hips  entering  in  contraction  in 
their  place.  In  connection  with  this  "law,"  it 
should  also  be  observed,  that  any  progression  ac- 
cording to  the  first  "law"  by  means  of  external 
weights  also  increases  the  weight  lever,  so  that  the 
progression  is  double. 

Finally,  we  must  not  forget  that  in  formulating 
either  of  these  "laws,"  no  consideration  has  been 
taken  to  the  inertia.  When  a  movement  has  ac- 
quired a  certain  speed,  only  a  minimum  of  muscular 
effort  is  required  to  maintain  it.  It  continues 
greatly  because  of  its  own  inertia.  Thus,  for  in- 
stance, a  giant  swing  requires  little  muscular  effort 
when  it  has  been  begun,  but  if  the  center  of  gravity 
be  moved  close  to  the  axis  of  motion  by  bending 
of  either  the  arms  or  the  legs,  considerable  strength 
would  be  demanded  for  its  continuation. 

The  two  foregoing  "laws"  deal  with  the  resistance 
offered  by  gravity.  But  there  are  other  agencies 
opposing  motion  in  the  body.  One  of  these  is  fric- 
tion in  the  joints,  in  the  play  of  tendons,  muscles, 
and  various  other  tissues  upon  each  other.  Nature 
provides  abundant  means  by  which  this  friction  is 
minimized.  Physiologists  as  well  as  gymnasts  gen- 


PROGRESSION  109 

erally  consider  the  resistance  by  friction  as  too  in- 
significant to  be  taken  into  account.  The  articulat- 
ing surfaces  are  smooth.  They  are  lubricated  by 
synovia,  bursse  exist  wherever  friction  threatens  to 
become  an  obstacle  to  free  motion,  the  tissues  are 
generally  slippery  so  as  to  glide  easily  over  each 
other.  It  has  been  estimated,  however,  that,  in 
spite  of  all  these  labor-saving  devices  of  nature, 
about  one  thirtieth  of  the  whole  muscular  force  is 
expended  in  overcoming  internal  friction.  If  a  mo- 
tion requires  small  muscular  effort,  the  friction  is 
small.  With  increased  effort  it  grows  apace.  If 
a  group  of  muscles  capable  of  lifting  one  hundred 
pounds  contract  in  order  to  lift  only  ten  pounds, 
the  internal  friction  would  amount  to  only  a  third 
of  a  pound  or  one  third  of  one  per  cent,  of  the  ca- 
pacity of  the  muscles.  But  if  they  are  required  to 
lift  ninety  pounds,  there  would  be  an  addition  in 
resistance  which  would  amount  to  three  pounds,  or 
three  per  cent.,  which  may  not  be  insignificant. 

Furthermore,  this  internal  friction  is  not  always 
a  hindrance  to  the  muscles.  It  sometimes  assists 
them.  We  are  prone  to  consider  that  all  motion 
in  the  body  is  caused  by  muscular  contraction;  we 
often  forget  gravity  as  a  cause  of  motion.  And 
friction  of  course  always  resists  the  motion  what- 


110         GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

ever  its  cause  may  be.  If  I  lift  my  arm  sideways, 
the  motion  is  caused  by  muscles  opposed  by  gravity 
and  friction.  If  I  allow  the  arm  to  sink  slowly,  the 
motion  is  caused  by  gravity  and  is  opposed  by 
muscles  and  friction  combined.  The  former  is  true 
in  all  "concentric"  activity.  The  latter  in  all  "ec- 
centric" activity.  These  terms  signify — concentric, 
that  the  main  active  muscle  during  its  activity  is 
gradually  growing  shorter;  eccentric  that  it  is  grow- 
ing longer. 

Therefore  we  gain  this  "law": 

(3.)  A  Concentric  Movement  is  more  advanced 
than  its  Eccentric  complement. 

Suppose,  for  instance,  that  a  person  hanging  by 
the  arms  wishes  to  bend  his  elbows  to  "chin."  The 
muscular  effort  needed  may  be  denoted  by  M,  the 
friction  by  F  and  gravity  by  G.  The  condition 
for  his  ability  to  execute  the  exercise  is  then  that 
his  muscles  shall  be  able  to  overcome  the  combined 
action  of  gravity  and  friction,  or,  mathematically 
expressed: 

M>(G+F)  or  (M— F)>G 

Now,  if,  after  having  bent  his  arms,  he  allows 
the  body  to  sink  with  the  same  speed  used  in  rais- 
ing it,  gravity  will  overcome  the  resistance  offered 
by  the  muscles  and  friction,  which,  if  m  denotes  the 


PROGRESSION  111 

muscular  effort,  f  the  friction  and  G  gravity,  may 
be  expressed  as 

G>  (m+f ) 

A  comparison  of  the  two  gives : 
(M— F)>G>(m+f) 

And  if  the  value  of  friction  or  one  thirtieth  of  the 
muscular  effort,  be  inserted,  we  have: 

29/30  M     31/30  m 

Suppose  the  average  muscular  effort  to  be  150 
pounds,  there  is  a  difference  in  the  two  movements 
of  about  10  Ibs.  solely  because  of  friction,  which  by 
no  means  is  insignificant.  Many  exercises  may 
therefore  well  be  taught  eccentrically  before  the  con- 
centric part  is  essayed.  Suppose  that  a  boy  wishes 
to  acquire  the  ability  to  "chin."  Not  that  the  ac- 
complishment is  of  so  great  importance  that  much 
time  should  be  spent  on  it ;  but  many  do  wish  to  do 
so,  and  no  harm  can  come  from  it  if  certain  pre- 
cautions are  taken.  He  may  well  step  up  on  a 
bench  of  sufficient  height  to  enable  him  to  grasp  the 
object  firmly,  while  his  arms  are  bent,  sinking  down 
gradually,  and  thus  gaining  the  strength  he  desires. 
Of  course  the  leverage  of  all  the  motor  muscles  is 
better  in  the  eccentric  movement  than  in  the  con- 


112         GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

centric  movement,  which  undoubtedly  plays  an  im- 
portant part  in  the  greater  ease  with  which  the 
former  is  executed.  But  the  importance  of  fric- 
tion can  not  be  excluded. 

Reclining  the  body  backward  from  a  sitting  pos- 
ture is  easier  than  raising  the  body  from  lying  to 
sitting.  In  this  case,  the  case  is  still  more  com- 
plicated: we  have  not  only  to  take  into  considera- 
tion the  change  of  leverage  of  the  motor  muscles, 
but  also  the  increased  leverage  of  the  weight  which 
comes  with  the  increase  of  the  angle'in  the  hip-joint. 

We  have  already  several  times  spoken  of  the  part 
played  by  the  antagonistic  muscles  in  the  execution 
of  a  movement.  Within  certain  limits,  at  least, 
the  resistance  offered  by  the  antagonists  may  be 
voluntarily  increased  and  thereby  the  contraction 
required  of  the  motor  muscles  be  increased  or  de- 
creased. We  may,  therefore,  consider  it  a  possi- 
ble "law": 

(4.)  A  Movement  may  be  advanced  by  voluntary 
increase  of  the  antagonistic  action. 

The  possibility  of  increasing  the  resistance  by 
this  means  has  received  considerable  attention  of 
late  by  a  certain  class  of  advertising  Teachers  of 
Physical  Culture.  The  theory  upon  which  they 
found  their  peculiar  claims  is,  if  I  understand  it 
rightly,  that  natural  contractions  do  not  suffice  to 


FIG.  22A. 

When  the  weight  is  passively  suspended,  the  exercise  has  practi 
cally  a  negligible  value.     (See  page  4-3.) 


FIG.  22B. 

The    bony    framework   of   the    shoulder    girdle    as    influenced    by 
passive  suspension.     (See  Fig.  22 A.) 


PROGRESSION  113 

give  in  a  brief  time  the  necessary  stimulus  to  in- 
creased nutrition.  In  order  to  gain  this  advantage, 
the  muscular  contraction  must  be  opposed  by  arti- 
ficial means.  Hitherto  the  most  commonly  em- 
ployed method  to  supply  the  desired  additional  re- 
sistance has  been  by  external  weight.  But  these 
increase  the  strain  upon  the  heart.  And  to  obviate 
this  evil,  and  at  the  same  time  gain  the  desired 
amount  of  energy  expenditure,  the  so-called  "phys- 
iological" method  of  utilizing  the  antagonistic  re- 
sistance has  been  devised. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  call  the  attention  to  the 
fact  that  every  link  in  this  chain  of  reasoning  is 
fallacious.  External  weights  are  not  necessary  to 
gain  complete  and  powerful  contractions.  If  ex- 
ternal weights  be  added,  they  do  not  interfere  with 
the  cardiac  action,  except  if  they  be  moved  while  the 
respiration  be  interrupted,  that  is,  if  an  effort  be 
made  with  closed  glottis.  Circulation  is  favored 
and  the  heart  assisted  by  alternating  contractions 
and  relaxations.  When,  as  in  movements  with 
severe  antagonistic  resistance,  the  field  of  simul- 
taneous contraction  is  enlarged  and  its  duration  in- 
creased, there  is  on  the  contrary  strong  probability 
that  the  circulation  will  be  seriously  interfered  with, 
and  an  undue  strain  be  placed  upon  the  heart.  And 
this  is  not  all.  One  of  the  great  functions  of  gym- 


114         GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

nasties  is  to  develop  the  ability  to  localize  the  nerv- 
ous impulse  to  its  proper  paths,  to  those  paths  by 
which  it  can  be  most  economically  translated  into 
muscular  contraction  for  the  execution  of  natural 
acts.  The  development  of  the  motor  impulse  goes 
from  a  general  diffusion  to  finer  and  finer  localiza- 
tion. The  method  of  using  voluntary  antagonistic 
resistance  is  contrary  to  the  laws  of  nature,  inas- 
much as  it  strives,  consciously  or  unconsciously,  to 
make  permanent  the  stage  of  diffusion,  to  nurse 
rigidity  of  motion  which  we  should,  in  the  interest 
of  economy  of  energy  and  grace,  do  everything 
possible  to  counteract  and  eradicate. 

So  far  as  known,  reference  to  the  possible  desir- 
ability of  this  method  of  progression  has  only  been 
made  by  one  reputable  author,  the  late  lamented 
Posse.  He  mentions  it  only,  so  to  say,  parentheti- 
cally, and  I  can  only  explain  it  as  an  error  of  judg- 
ment. 

Strange  to  say,  the  advocates  of  relaxation,  par 
excellence,  not  infrequently  employ  exercises  in 
which  a  totally  unnecessary  voluntary  increase  of 
the  antagonistic  resistance  is  called  for. 

The  ease  or  difficulty  of  a  movement  depends 
also  on  the  conditions  under  which  the  muscles  work. 
In  the  foregoing  we  have  mentioned  the  changing 
leverage  of  the  motor  muscles.  I  have  been  unable 


PROGRESSION  115 

to  think  of  any  example  in  which  this  matter  alone 
is  the  determining  factor,  and  have  therefore  not 
endeavored  to  formulate  a  "law"  to  cover  the  cases. 
But  the  ability  of  a  muscle  depends  on  many  other 
factors,  of  which  one  of  the  foremost  is  its  condi- 
tion when  it  begins  to  move  the  weight.  Its  work- 
ing capacity  decreases  with  its  degree  of  contrac- 
tion. If  a  muscle  receives  its  load  when  it  is  fully 
extended  it  is  able  to  lift  a  greater  load,  than  if  the 
load  is  attached  to  it  after  it  has  been  partly  con- 
tracted. Whether  this  is  due  to  the  assistance  given 
by  the  mere  mechanical  elasticity  of  the  tissues,  or 
whether  it  depends  on  difference  in  the  number  of 
muscle  fibers  which  can  be  brought  to  bear  upon 
the  load,  seems  not  to  be  settled.  Both  factors 
probably  enter,  and  the  fact  is  undoubted.  Hence 
if  a  starting  posture  be  chosen,  in  which  the  attach- 
ments are  strongly  separated  before  the  movement 
is  begun  the  execution  becomes  easier,  requires  less 
energy,  than  if  the  attachments  are  approached. 
In  the  latter  case  a  certain  amount  of  contraction 
is  necessary  for  the  mere  purpose  of  "taking  in  the 
slack,"  if  this  expression  be  allowed  to  convey  the 
mechanical  idea,  instead  of  being  taken  in  its  literal 
sense.  Therefore : 

(5.)  A  movement  involving  a  certain  muscle 
group  in  activity  of  a  certain  kind  becomes  more 


116          GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

advanced  if  the  attachments  of  the  active  muscles 
are  approached  to  each  other  in  the  starting  posture. 
Take  Lying  Leg-raising  as  an  example.  The 
motor  muscles  are  the  flexors  of  the  hips.  But  the 
activity  which  is  especially  desired  in  this  exercise 
is  that  of  the  abdominal  muscles  which  act  as  fix- 
ators  for  the  pelvis.  The  rectus  abdominis  may  be 
chosen  as  a  type  of  these  in  this  example.  Its 
lower  attachment  is  on  the  pubic  arc,  its  upper  on 
the  thoracic  wall.  The  position  of  the  arms  de- 
termines to  great  extent  the  position  of  the  latter. 
If  the  arms  be  raised  above  the  head,  or  the  hands 
be  placed  behind  the  head,  the  sternum  and  ribs  be- 
come raised  and  fixed  in  this  position,  the  rectus 
abdominis  consequently  moderately  extended,  and 
the  leg-raising  takes  place  easier  than  if  the  arms 
are  down  by  the  side,  in  which  case  the  first  part  of 
the  contraction  only  serves  to  depress  the  costal  cage 
until  sufficient  fixity  has  been  gained  to  give  pur- 
chase. This  approach  of  the  origin  to  the  inser- 
tion may  by  a  suitable  posture  be  carried  to  such  an 
extent  that  certain  muscles  ordinarily  engaged  in 
a  movement  are  actually  prevented  from  furnish- 
ing any  help  in  the  execution.  Take  for  instance 
the  muscles  usually  engaged  in  the  plantar  flexion 
of  the  ankle.  There  are  many  of  these  but  we  may 
limit  our  attention  to  the  gastrocnemius  and  the 


PROGRESSION  117 

soleus  as  representatives  of  two  types,  the  former 
having  its  upper  attachment  above  the  knee-joint, 
the  latter  below.  If  the  knee  be  rather  sharply 
bent,  the  gastrocnemius  becomes  relaxed  to  such  an 
extent  that  its  contraction  meets  little  or  no  resist- 
ance and  the  other  muscles  must  execute  the  work 
unaided.  If  I  rise  upon  tiptoes  from  the  usual 
standing  posture  all  the  calf  muscles  cooperate. 
But  if  I  then  begin  to  bend  my  knees,  the  gas- 
trocnemius gradually  loses  its  power,  cannot,  to  the 
same  extent  as  formerly  at  all  events,  cooperate 
with  the  soleus  and  the  other  one  joint  muscles. 
These  must  then,  with  a  smaller  contractile  mass 
support  the  full  weight  of  the  body,  and  as  a  re- 
sult the  heels  will  show  tendency  to  descend,  which 
can  only  be  overcome  by  a  special  effort.  It  is 
of  course  not  denied,  that  gastrocnemius  always  con- 
tracts synergetically  with  the  soleus.  This  may 
well  be  taken  for  granted  from  the  mere  anatomical 
fact  that  both  receive  the  nerve  supply  from  the 
same  source,  the  internal  popliteal  nerve,  but  that 
they  also  are  to  some  extent  independent,  as  may  be 
established  by  palpation,  is  explained  if  we  con- 
sider that  one  branch  of  this  nerve,  the  posterior 
tibial  supplies  the  soleus  in  conjunction  with  the 
other  extensors  of  the  ankle,  the  tibialis  posticus, 
the  flexor  longus  digitorum  and  the  flexor  longus 


118          GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

pollucis,  but  furnishes  no  fibers  to  the  gastrocne- 
mius. 

It  is  of  course  evident  that  if,  by  some  such 
means,  a  posture  is  to  be  maintained  or  a  move- 
ment executed  by  a  smaller  muscle  mass  we  deal 
with  a  more  difficult  mechanical  problem  that  if  a 
larger  mass  is  used  to  uphold  or  move  the  same 
weight.  We  may  thus  state  that 

(6.)  An  exercise  may  be  advanced  by  the  selec- 
tion of  such  posture  that  thereby  a  smaller  muscle 
mass  is  obliged  to  execute  the  work  normally  done 
by  a  larger  mass. 

This  "law"  gives  an  unsought  opportunity  to 
touch  upon  a  matter  which  is  of  considerable  inter- 
est to  us  as  students.  Many  muscles  have  a  double 
effect.  Branting  asserted  as  a  result  of  his  ex- 
perience that  if  such  a  muscle  from  some  reason  or 
other  be  prevented  from  executing  one  of  its  func- 
tions its  other  effect  would  be  eliminated.  This 
was  denied  by  many,  who  claimed  that  Branting's 
observation  was  at  fault.  Now,  however,  prom- 
inent physiologists  have  accepted  this  view-point. 
Landois,  for  instance,  gives  these  examples:  "If 
the  fore  arm  is  strongly  pronated  and  then  flexed 
in  this  position,  the  biceps  remains  out  of  action; 
or  with  strongly  extended  elbow,  M.  Supinator 
brevis  alone  acts  as  supinator,  not  the  biceps.  The 


PROGRESSION  119 

M.  Masseter  raises  and  at  the  same  time  pulls  the 
lower  jaw  forward.  If  now  the  jaw  be  pulled 
strongly  backward  (so  that  the  masseter  is  not  al- 
lowed to  pull  it  forward),  the  masseter  does  not 
take  part  in  the  raising  of  the  jaw.  The  temporal 
muscle  simultaneously  raises  and  pulls  the  jaw 
backward.  If  the  jaw  be  kept  strongly  forward, 
and  raised  in  this  position,  the  temporalis  remains 
inactive.  Only  by  the  strongest  possible  effort,  or 
when  the  position  of  the  bones  are  peculiarly  influ- 
enced by  other  mechanical  causes,  do  the  muscles 
of  this  group  (those  having  a  double  function)  take 
part  in  this  one-sided  effect." 

The  preceding  "laws"  deal  with  progression  be- 
cause of  changes  in  the  intensity  of  the  muscular 
contraction.  To  certain  extent  connected  with  this, 
we  might  well  consider  the  possibility  of  a  progres- 
sion going  in  exactly  the  opposite  direction  from 
the  last  mentioned  method  namely  by  increasing 
the  number  of  muscles  acting  con- jointly.  By 
means  of  an  ever-increasing  isolation  of  the  active 
muscles  we  gain  of  course  increased  local  effects, 
by  increasing  the  number  of  muscles  taking  part, 
we,  on  the  other  hand,  increase  the  general  systemic 
effects.  We  might  thus  express  this  "law": 

(7.)  A  movement  may  be  advanced  by  increas- 
ing the  mass  of  muscles  taking  part. 


120         GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

It  should,  however,  be  observed  that  with  the 
exception  of  such  exercises  which  fall  under  the 
previous  "law"  there  seems  to  be  no  opportunity 
to  progress  in  this  manner  within  the  same  type 
of  exercise.  This  method  of  progression  seems 
always  to  mean  a  change  of  type.  If  we  use 
heavemovements  as  a  type,  it  is  clear  that  we  may 
within  the  pure  heavemovements,  progress  for  in- 
stance from  undergrasp  hanging  armbending  to 
overgrasp  hanging  armbending  according  to  the 
previous  law,  but  if  we  wish  to  call  forth  a  more 
general  effect,  by  drawing  in  a  larger  number  of 
muscles  we  are  practically  obliged  to  choose  our 
exercise  from  a  different  type.  If  we  desire  gen- 
eral systemic  effects  of  a  higher  degree,  we  may 
well  consider  the  choice,  for  instance,  of  a  rope 
climbing  in  which  many  muscles  enter  into  con- 
traction. 

The  previous  "laws"  have  all  dealt  with  the  rela- 
tion of  the  active  muscles  and  the  resistance.  But 
the  extent  and  duration  of  the  movement  should 
also  receive  consideration.  Thus  we  may  wish  to 
cause  a  chest  expansion  by  means  of  a  trunkbend- 
ing  backwards.  It  is  clear  that  the  greater  the 
curve  the  greater  the  expanse.  Without  adducing 
further  examples  we  may  therefore  say  that 


FIG.  23A. 
An  active  suspension  of  body  weight.     (Compare  with  Fig. 


FIG.  23B. 

The  bony  framework  of  the  shoulder  girdle  as  influenced  by  active 
suspension.     (Compare  with  Fig.  22 A.) 


PROGRESSION  121 

(8.)  A  movement  may  be  advanced  by  carrying 
it  nearer  its  mechanical  limit. 

Progression  according  to  this  "law'*  is  closely 
bound  up  with  some  of  those  already  mentioned. 
It  has  already  been  mentioned  that  the  lever  upon 
which  gravity  acts  varies  with  the  extent  of  the 
motion.  In  the  trunk  bending  backward  the  lever 
goes  from  beginning  to  end.  In  lying  leg  raising 
it  diminishes  with  the  progress  of  the  movement, 
but  in  spite  of  this,  there  is  required  a  constantly 
growing  effort  because  of  the  increased  shortening 
of  the  active  muscles,  etc. 

The  duration  of  an  exercise  may  be  increased  in 
two  ways: 

(9.)  An  exercise  may  be  advanced  by  increasing 
the  duration  of  the  single  contraction. 

(10.)  An  exercise  may  be  advanced  by  increas- 
ing the  number  of  its  repetitions. 

Examples  are  not  necessary  to  make  clear  either 
of  these  procedures.  They  are  self-evident. 

In  the  preceding  "laws"  an  endeavor  has  been 
made  to  sketch  the  common  means  by  which  we 
may  progress  by  keeping  our  attention  on  one  side 
of  the  gymnastic  exercise,  the  muscular  contraction. 
It  need  hardly  be  said  that  the  object  in  view  is 
not  the  effect  on  the  muscular  tissue.  By  the 


122          GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

muscular  contractions  we  desire  to  influence  the 
vascular  system,  the  nervous  system,  the  respira- 
tory functions,  the  digestive  tract,  the  skeleton  and 
its  articulations.  The  effects  on  these  various 
organs  are  the  important  ones,  and  the  "laws" 
formulated  are  expressed  in  terms  of  muscular  con- 
traction only  because  of  convenience. 

But  an  exercise  involves  not  only  muscular  con- 
traction but  also  a  nervous  element.  And  this 
must  be  taken  into  consideration  when  the  question 
is  of  Progression.  By  means  of  our  exercises  we 
strive  to  place  our  muscles  under  control  of  the  will. 
Progression  can  therefore  not  be  limited  to  mere 
mechanical  problems,  but  must  follow  the  laws  of 
psychic  development.  Psychology  is  as  yet  so 
indefinite  that  we  can  hardly  be  expected  definitely 
to  formulate  general  conclusions.  But  at  all 
events  it  has  progressed  sufficiently  to  support  at 
least  some  of  the  results  to  which  we  have  arrived 
by  our  own  observation. 

The  gymnastic  teacher  finds,  for  instance,  that 
to  gain  good  results  he  must,  like  all  teachers,  rivet 
the  attention  of  the  pupil  to  the  work  to  be  done. 
He  finds  that  when  the  attention  is  diverted  to 
other  things,  the  exercises  suffer.  He  knows  that 
if  his  class  performs  an  exercise  slovenly,  his  first 
means  of  correction  is  to  repeat  the  exercise  with 


PROGRESSION  123 

a  sharper  command.  This  sharper  command  then 
attracts  the  attention.  And  the  less  clean  cut,  the 
more  monotonous  the  commands,  the  more  dif- 
ficulty the  pupil  experiences  in  attending  to  the 
exercise.  Now,  though  psychologists  have  not 
been  able  to  give  us  a  satisfactory  definition  of 
attention,  they  have  studied  some  of  the  factors 
which  influence  it.  Among  these  are  the  bigness 
and  the  brightness  of  the  stimulus.  Bigness  and 
brightness  both  attract  attention.  The  bigger  and 
the  brighter  the  stimulus,  the  less  voluntary  effort 
is  required  by  the  individual  to  react  to  it.  And 
per  contra,  the  greater  voluntary  control  the  indi- 
vidual has  over  his  attention,  the  smaller  and  duller 
may  the  stimuli  be  to  induce  correct  reaction.  The 
first  time  an  exercise  is  taught,  it  may  attract  and 
hold  the  attention  because  of  its  newness,  but  after 
a  few  repetitions  this  wears  off  and  the  command 
for  it  may  suitably  be  given  in  a  loud,  plain,  sharp, 
clean-cut  manner.  The  more  frequently  the  exer- 
cise has  been  taken,  the  more  may  the  word  of  com- 
mand approach  the  usual  conversational  tone. 
Similar  experiences  we  may  gather  from  the  toys 
of  children.  Bright  colored  balls,  for  instance, 
attract  the  attention  and  induce  motor  activities 
better  than  those  held  in  a  dull  gray  tone.  All  this 
iay  then  be  expressed  in  this  "law": 


124          GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

(11.)  An  exercise  may  be  advanced  by  a  de- 
crease in  the  bigness  or  intensity  of  the  stimulus. 

We  also  learn  from  personal  experience,  as  well 
as  from  our  Manuals  of  Psychology,  that  attention 
cannot  be  riveted  to  more  than  one  thing  at  a  time. 
It  may  oscillate  so  rapidly  from  one  focus  to  an- 
other, that  we  may  get  the  impression  that  one  and 
the  same  focus  includes  several  objects.  But,  as 
a  matter  of  fact,  attention  to  several  objects  is  in- 
termittent. So  far  as  motor  activities  done  with 
full  attention  are  concerned,  they  include  several 
distinct  factors.  There  are  the  elements  of  direc- 
tion, of  distance,  of  speed,  of  duration,  etc.  If  we 
are  going  to  teach  a  new  movement,  we  all  con- 
sciously or  unconsciously  separate  these  elements, 
paying  attention  first  to  the  one,  then  to  the  other. 
Suppose  that  you  are  teaching  a  series  of  Indian 
club  exercises:  you  not  only  sub-divide  this  series 
in  simpler  component  exercises,  but  in  each  of  these 
you  first  teach  the  element  of  form  more  or  less 
slowly,  and  only  when  this  is  fairly  well  established 
do  you  endeavor  to  have  it  repeated  in  the  desired 
time.  So  with  all  exercises.  We  may  therefore, 
perhaps,  be  warranted  in  putting  these  experiences 
in  the  form  of  some  "laws." 

(12.)  In  teaching  an  exercise  of  a  given  form 
and  speed  one  of  these  factors,  generally  the  form, 


PROGRESSION  125 

should  first  receive  our  undivided  attention,  and  a 
progression  is  made  in  the  same  exercise  by  grad- 
ually requiring  more  perfection  in  the  second 
factor. 

It  is  of  course  clear  that  an  exercise  consisting 
only  of  a  single  movement  and  return  is  easier  of 
execution  than  one  consisting  of  several  distinct 
movements.  It  is  then  a  general  "law,"  which 
needs  no  discussion  at  all,  that 

(13.)  Exercises  of  one  count  should  precede 
those  of  two  counts,  to  be  followed  in  turn  by  those 
of  three,  four  or  more. 

And  also  that  when  an  exercise  of  more  than  a 
single  movement  is  first  taught,  each  of  these  move- 
ments must  be  treated  as  a  separate  exercise,  or, 
in  other  words, 

(14.)  Each  count  of  an  exercise  shall  in  the 
beginning  have  its  separate  command  by  the 
teacher,  and  progression  within  the  same  exercise 
may  be  made  first  by  the  pupils  counting  aloud, 
then  silently  for  themselves,  until  finally  all  count- 
ing is  done  away  with  and  the  several  counts  arc 
executed  upon  one  single  command  by  the  teacher. 

If  two  exercises,  each  consisting  of,  let  us  say, 
two  counts,  have  been  taught,  both  as  to  form  and 
time,  and  we  wish  to  make  a  sequence  of  the  two, 

e  problem  is  to  go  over  into  an  exercise  consisting 


126          GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

of  four  counts  which  present  differences  in  form. 
In  many  simple  exercises  this  transition  may  well 
be  made  immediately,  but  in  many  we  will  find  it 
more  conducive  to  correct  execution  to  make  a 
short  series  of  each  of  the  separate  exercises. 
Thus: 

(15.)  After  an  exercise  consisting  of  more  than 
one  movement  has  been  mastered  both  as  to  form 
and  time,  progression  may  be  made  by  teaching  a 
short  series  of  the  exercise  to  be  executed  upon  one 
single  command. 

(16.)  Similar  exercises  in  different  directions 
shall  only  be  used  in  series  without  intervening  com- 
mands when  each  exercise  has  been  repeated  in  a 
correspondingly  long  series  in  each  of  the  indi- 
vidual directions. 

After  having  taught,  for  instance,  arm  stretch- 
ing sidewards,  and  arm  stretching  upwards,  we 
might  thus  well  give  a  series  of  two  arm  stretchings 
sidewards  upon  one  command,  and  a  series  of  two 
arm  stretchings  upwards  upon  one  command,  be- 
fore we  combine  the  two  into  a  series  of  one  arm 
stretching  sideward  and  one  arm  stretching  up- 
ward. 

Similar  conditions  should  guide  us  in  combina- 
tions of  movements  of  different  parts  into  one  exer- 
cise. Each  component  part  of  the  exercise  should 


FIG.  24. 

If  the  elbows  are  bent  in  the  shoulder  plane,  chest  elevation  and 
expansion  result.     (See  page  44.) 


I  FIG.  25. 

Chest  depression  is  brought  about  by  the  ordinary 
(Compare  with  Fig.  24.) 


chinning." 


PROGRESSION  127 

first  be  taught  separately  before  the  combination 
be  attempted. 

(17.)  Combinations  of  arm  movements  with 
those  of  head,  trunk  or  legs,  head  movements  with 
trunk  or  leg  movements;  trunk  movements  with  leg 
movements,  and  so  on,  shall  only  be  practised  after 
each  movement  has  been  taught  separately. 

(18.)  Two  such  combinations  should  precede 
three  or  more.  Thus:  Yrd  (c)  st  Hand  rotation 
with  Head  turning;  yrd  (c)  st.  Hand  rotation 
with  Heel  raising;  and  yrd  (c)  st.  Heel  raising 
with  Head  turning,  should  all  precede  yrd  (c)  st. 
Heel  raising  with  Hand-rotation  and  Head 
turning. 

In  many  exercises,  in  fact  generally,  it  is  desir- 
able that  certain  parts  of  the  body  shall  be  held 
immovable  while  others  move.  To  maintain  im- 
mobility is  in  itself  an  exercise  demanding  prac- 
tice, and  should  be  treated  as  an  exercise.  Inhibi- 
tion of  movement  is  a  matter  of  education.  To 
maintain  the  arms  extended  in  the  prolongation  of 
the  body  in  standing  is  quite  easy.  To  incline  the 
body  forward  from  a  standing  posture  when  the 
arms  are  low  is  also  easy.  To  make  this  inclina- 
tion forward  with  the  arms  extended  upward  and 
immovable  is  a  task  of  some  difficulty,  requiring 
quite  a  good  deal  of  control.  And  to  execute 


128          GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

movements  with  the  arms  while  the  body  is  held 
in  the  inclined  posture,  the  arms  starting  and  re- 
turning to  a  position  in  the  prolongation  of  the 
body  is  still  more  difficult.  If  we  wish  to  practise 
such  exercise,  we  must  therefore  see  to  it  that  the 
main  difficulties  have  been  conquered  which  meet 
us  in  assuming  the  posture  itself  which  shall  serve 
as  a  foundation  for  the  exercise.  In  other  words: 

(19.)  An  exercise  must  proceed  from  a  well- 
known  starting  posture,  and  the  assumption  and 
maintenance  of  this  posture  must  be  well  practised 
before  it  be  used  as  a  starting  posture  for  exercise. 

Take,  for  instance,  exercises  on  the  parallel  bars. 
We  all  know  that  it  requires  a  considerable  degree 
of  strength  and  coordination  to  maintain  the  usual 
starting  posture.  It  must  be  practised  assiduously 
before  we  can  have  a  right  to  add  exercises,  for 
instance,  with  the  legs.  Every  such  exercise  not 
only  prolongs  the  period  during  which  the  posture 
must  be  maintained,  but  diverts  the  attention  and 
changes  the  mechanical  relations,  so  that  errors  of 
form  are  inevitable,  if  they  are  begun  too  early.  It 
is  of  course  a  matter  for  each  teacher  to  decide  for 
himself  when  the  time  has  arrived  for  him  to  begin 
exercises  from  this  posture;  but  the  general  ten- 
dency is  to  hurry  too  much.  The  progression  must 
necessarily  be  very  slow  when  it  is  a  matter  of  com- 


PROGRESSION  129 

>lete  reversal  of  the  functions  of  a  part,  when  the 
movable  shoulder-girdle  is  to  serve  the  role  of  the 
fixed  pelvis. 

It  has  been  maintained  that  the  location  of  the 
sensory  organs  give  us  the  clue  for  progression  as 
to  direction.  The  sense-organs  are  mainly  directed 
forward,  while  they  give  us  little  assistance  in  mo- 
tions backward.  Exercises  should,  therefore,  be- 
gin forward,  proceed  to  the  sides,  and  backward 
should  be  the  last.  This  reasoning  seems  fallacious 
or  at  least  inadequate.  Motions  are  not  made  pri- 
marily forward  because  the  sense-organs  are  di- 
rected forward.  The  sense-organs  are  located  for- 
ward because  motions  are  habitually  made  in  that 
direction.  In  other  words,  it  is  not  the  location  of 
the  sense-organs  which  should  determine  the  direc- 
tion of  the  motions,  but  the  habitude  of  motion. 
Thus: 

(20.)  Exercises  which  from  their  nature  may  be 
executed  in  several  directions  shall  begin  in  that 
direction  in  which  similar  movements  are  habitually 
performed  in  daily  life. 

No  one,  for  instance,  would  think  of  beginning 
to  teach  a  march  or  a  jump  in  any  other  direction 
than  forward.  But  it  is  a  mistake  to  say  that  the 
backward  direction  should  always  come  last.  It  is 
a  matter  of  experience  in  the  gymnasium  as  well  as 


130         GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

a  psychologically  established  fact  that  a  movement 
in  one  direction  is  best  followed  by  a  movement  in 
exactly  the  opposite  direction;  and,  generally 
speaking,  it  is  safer  to  assume  that  a  motion  in  a 
forward  direction  should  immediately  be  followed 
by  the  corresponding  one  backward,  not  by  the  one 
sideward  or  in  an  oblique  direction. 

But  the  matter  of  direction,  though  influenced  by 
the  ease  with  which  conceptions  of  directions  are 
formed  in  the  mind  of  the  pupil,  should  be  more 
powerfully  determined  by  our  desires  to  counteract 
the  influences  of  daily  life.  There  motions  in  a 
forward  direction  prevail,  and  they  give  as  a  result, 
if  increased,  many  evil  effects.  We  should  not 
begin  our  instruction  by  emphasizing  these  effects. 
Our  arms  are  habitually  moved  forward.  The 
result  is  incongruity  in  strength  and  ability  between 
the  anterior  and  the  posterior  muscles.  Why 
should  we  then  begin  with  arm  raising  and  arm 
stretching  forward?  To  cultivate  the  conception 
of  the  forward  direction?  That  is  fairly  well 
established  when  the  child  comes  to  our  classes. 
Better  by  far  it  seems  to  begin  with  arm  movements 
sideways  which  give  us  some  counteracting  effects, 
reserving  those  in  a  forward  direction  until  such 
control  has  been  gained  that  they  may  be  done  with- 
out the  deforming  influence  of  the  shoulder-blades 


PROGRESSION  131 

being  moved  forward  (Fig.  13).  Our  heads  are 
habitually  moved  forward  until  the  neck  is  habitu- 
ally carried  too  far  forward.  Why  should  we  es- 
pecially teach  that  as  an  exercise?  We  should  be- 
gin with  head  bending  backward.  Our  legs  habit- 
ually move  forward.  Why  should  we  begin  with 
teaching  the  children  to  lift  one  leg  forward,  when 
by  so  doing  we  induce  an  erroneous  form  of  the 
back?  Why  should  we  make  an  arm  traveling  for- 
ward before  we  make  one  sideways  or  backward, 
when  the  two  latter  are  correctives;  the  former  on 
the  contrary  always  tends  to  exaggerate  the  habit- 
ual postures  of  head  and  shoulders? 

Frequently  it  is  possible  to  utilize  several  senses 
or  external  features  to  make  easy  the  execution  of 
an  exercise.  Alignment  of  a  rank  may  first  be 
made  by  using  both  sight  and  touch,  and  progres- 
sion be  made,  after  some  practise,  by  taking  the 
alignment  only  by  vision.  Marches  are  easiest 
done  in  the  flank  formation;  then  in  front  forma- 
tion ;  in  either  case  they  should  first  be  taught  in  the 
direction  of  the  gymnasium  or  across  it,  and  after- 
wards they  may  be  made  diagonally.  If  we  keep 
the  feet  at  right  angles,  we  take  a  foot  placing  in 
the  direction  of  the  feet  very  much  easier  after  a 
facing  of  forty-five  degrees,  so  that  the  movement 
of  the  foot  goes  in  the  direction  of  the  ranks  or  in 


132          GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

a  perpendicular  direction  to  it.  And  so  on.  This 
may  perhaps  be  expressed  by  the  following  "law": 

(21.)  An  exercise  is  easiest  performed  if  several 
senses  are  used  simultaneously  to  impress  the  direc- 
tion, and  an  advance  may  be  made  by  gradual  with- 
drawal of  this  assistance. 

The  general  rule  has  already  been  given  that  all 
exercises  involving  motion  of  a  single  part  should 
precede  the  more  complex  exercises  in  which  sev- 
eral parts  move  together.  In  practise,  this  has 
been  applied  to  a  further  extent  than  should  reason- 
ably be  done.  In  many  manuals  we  find  it  recom- 
mended for  instance  that  one  arm  shall  be  raised, 
stretched  or  bent,  then  the  other,  and  progression 
be  made  to  the  simultaneous  motion  of  both  arms. 
This  is  wrong.  The  arms  are  so  closely  connected 
with  each  other  in  the  habitual  movements  of  life 
that  it  requires  a  considerable  degree  of  inhibitory 
power  to  maintain  the  one  immovable  while  the 
other  moves.  To  a  less  extent  the  same  is  true  of 
the  legs,  and  if  the  movements  of  the  legs  be  such 
that  the  added  weight  is  not  of  paramount  impor- 
tance, their  simultaneous  motion  is  by  far  easier 
than  the  separate  motion  of  each.  We  may  there- 
fore consider  it  as  a  "law"  of  quite  general 
applicability : 

(22.)  Bilateral  movements  of  the   extremities 


PROGRESSION  133 

shall  precede  unilateral  ones,  and  these  be  followed 
later  by  asymmetrical  ones. 

Generally  speaking,  any  change  either  in  form 
or  time,  requiring  new  coordination  complexes, 
means  added  difficulty.  Several  of  the  preceding 
"laws"  express  this  view.  We  will  only  add  one 
more,  viz.,  that: 

(23.)  Exercises  which  have  been  taught  in  a 
definite  time  are  advanced  by  any  change  of  the 
time. 

A  movement  taught  slowly  is  advanced  by  being 
taught  rapidly.  If  the  execution  has  been  rapid, 
advance  may  be  made  by  changing  to  a  slow  time. 
If  the  different  phases  of  an  exercise  have  followed 
each  other  in  a  certain  rhythm,  any  change  of  the 
rhythm  constitutes  an  advance. 

The  "laws"  here  given  can  hardly  be  expected 
to  supersede  the  verdicts  of  experience.  They 
should,  however,  assist  the  teacher  in  understanding 
why  in  a  given  case  he  finds  that  a  certain  exercise 
should  precede  another.  They  no  doubt  should  be 
modified;  new  ones  should  be  added;  some  may  be 
struck  out  as  covering  too  few  cases.  But  it  is  be- 
lieved that  they  may  be  utilized  as  a  basis  for  a 
study  of  progression,  a  question  which  as  yet  is 
comparatively  little  understood. 


K  ^S 


CHAPTER  VII 

GENERAL   CONSIDERATIONS   OF   METHOD 

WHATEVER  the  system  may  be  which  we  accept, 
whatever  the  foundation  principles  which  move  us, 
whatever  the  chief  aim  we  seek,  each  one  has  his 
own  personal  method  to  apply  that  system,  to 
actualize  these  principles,  to  gain  that  aim. 

The  system  and  the  method  should  not  be  con- 
founded.    Two  teachers  striving  for  the  same  end, 
having  the  same  fundamental  principles,  that  is, 
believing  in  the  same  system,  may  seek  to  gain  the 
results   by   widely   divergent   methods.     A   good 
system  may  easily  be  valueless  in  the  hands  of  a 
teacher  with  bad  methods ;  while  a  poor  system  may 
it  least  be  made  to  appear  attractive  if  it  be  applied 
>rding  to  superior  methods.     The  Method  is 
sentially  a  matter  of  the  teacher's  personality, 
le  differences  of  systems  are  apparently  fading 
iway.     We  already  see  dimly  in  the  future  the 
iopeful  rising  of  universally  recognized  fundamen- 
il  principles  upon  which  a  Science  of  Gymnastics 
iay  be  founded,  and  when  it  happens,  national  and 
personal  appellations  will  no  longer  be  recognized 

135 


136          GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

or  tolerated.  Increase  of  knowledge  will  result  in 
the  death  of  antagonistic  systems;  it  should  also 
make  us  less  dependent  on  authoritative  dicta,  more 
individually  free,  less  machine  like,  more  human 
and  personal,  and  our  methods  will  therefore  grow 
ever  more  divergent. 

But  even  so  they  must  not  become  lawless. 
They  must  serve  our  principles.  When  we  become 
less  trainers,  more  teachers,  our  methods,  however 
different  they  may  be,  must  in  their  general  aspect, 
correspond  to  the  general  laws  of  Pedagogy. 

The  most  general  of  these  "laws"  is  probably  that 
which  decrees  that  the  teacher  shall  arouse  his 
pupils  to  self  activity  of  the  highest  order.  We 
cannot  do  the  work  for  the  pupils.  We  can  simply 
assist  and  guide  them  along  the  road  from  the 
simple  to  the  complex;  from  the  easy  to  the  dif- 
ficult; from  the  known  to  the  related  unknown. 
They  themselves  shall  find  and  traverse  the  road, 
being  drawn  along  by  the  irresistible  force  of  their 
own  feeling,  their  own  desire.  There  must  be  no 
pro  forma  performance  of  tasks  imposed  by  the 
authorities,  but  there  must  be  self-willed  efforts 
leading  upward  and  ever  upward.  No  work  in  the 
schools  can  fulfill  its  educational  purpose  if  it  be 
considered  by  the  pupils  as  mere  toil  and  drudgery. 
By  the  old  education,  symbolized  by  the  rod,  the 


CONSIDERATIONS  OF  METHOD     137 

pupils  were  driven  to  their  work.  The  new  educa- 
tion, which  had  its  first  practical  application 
simultaneously  with  the  general  upheaval  con- 
temporaneously with  the  gymnastic  renaissance,  is 
characterized  by  interest,  joy,  pleasure  and  happi- 
ness. Guts  Muths  called  gymnastics  work  in  the 
garb  of  play.  There  should  be  no  doubt  about 
gymnastics  being  work ;  but  it  should  be  made  will- 
ing work.  We  must  attach  interest  to  it.  What- 
ever the  system  may  be,  whatever  methods  be  util- 
ized, this  must  be  ever  in  our  minds,  that  uninterest- 
ing work  always  spells  failure.  And  this  not  for 
children  merely.  There  is  no  difference  between 
child  and  adult  in  this  regard,  that  work  without  in- 
terest is  poorly  and  slovenly  executed,  and  shirked 
as  much  as  possible.  Whatever  the  age  of  the 
pupils  may  be,  work  combined  with  interest  is  well 
done;  it  is  a  pleasure  and  an  enjoyment.  No  sigh 
of  relief,  but  rather  one  of  regret  escapes  them  at 
its  end.  So  with  gymnastics.  If  there  be  no  in- 
terest attached  to  it,  it  is  poor  gymnastics.  If  it  be 
interesting,  it  may  be  good  gymnastics. 

But  there  is  this  difference  between  the  adult 
and  the  child,  that  the  interest  of  the  former  need 
not  necessarily  be  immediate  and  direct,  but  due  to 
the  knowledge  that  certain  mediate  and  indirect 
benefits  may  accrue  from  a  work  which  in  itself  is 


138         GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

uninteresting.  For  the  sake  of  remote  benefits,  the 
adult  may  be  brought  to  exert  himself  with  vim, 
with  vigor,  and  pleasure  to  a  labor  which  in  itself 
is  the  merest  mechanical  toil.  The  child,  on  the 
other  hand,  is  not  able  to  see  or  appreciate  to  the 
full  value  the  distant  and  indirect  benefits,  but  must 
find  the  interest  in  the  work  itself,  or  in  something 
immediately  connected  with  it.  It  is  only  the  force 
of  authority  which  can  make  the  child  perform  ex- 
ercises to  which  no  immediate  interest  is  closely 
knitted.  The  adult  may  find  interest  in  even  such 
apparent  inanities  as  stretching  his  arms  in  various 
directions  at  the  command  of  a  leader,  or  the  me- 
chanical labor  of  pulling  on  a  pulley-weight  for 
every  day  of  a  whole  year,  if  he  knows,  or  believes, 
for  instance  that  his  health  will  be  benefited  there- 
by. The  child  may  find  interest  in  the  same 
movements  when  the  procedure  is  novel,  but  will 
soon  lose  the  interest  in  them,  the  benefits  appear- 
ing too  vague  and  remote.  The  teacher  must  knit 
some  special  interest  to  it,  if  the  child  shall  benefit 
from  it.  He  must  be  able  to  awaken  and  maintain 
the  interest  of  the  class  directly  in  the  work.  If 
not,  the  pupils  will  look  upon  it  simply  as  an  addi- 
tional and  disagreeable  task  put  before  them  by 
the  school  or  the  parents,  and  the  gymnastic  lessons 
become  merely  a  means  of  further  increasing  the 


CONSIDERATIONS  OF  METHOD     139 

over  burdening  of  the  pupils  from  which  they  now 
frequently  suffer,  not  so  much  on  account  of  the 
great  amount  of  work  done,  as  because  of  bad 
methods  of  instruction.  The  value  of  gymnastics 
under  such  conditions  becomes  minimized.  In- 
stead of  being  a  blessing,  it  becomes  a  bane.  A 
dry,  solemn  performance  of  certain  definite  move- 
ments is  no  more  gymnastics,  as  it  should,  ought 
and  can  be,  than  memorizing  the  names  of  the 
Presidents  and  the  dates  of  battles  is  history.  Of 
educative  power,  of  development — all  force,  there 
is  none.  If  that  is  the  kind  of  gymnastics  offered, 
it  is  far  better  to  have  it  struck  from  the  curricula 
and  the  advertising  circulars  of  the  school.  By  it 
we  do  not  make  an  able  and  happy  race.  We  are 
killing  souls.  Every  teacher  ought  to  take  to  heart 
the  lesson  conveyed  by  Mark  Twain  in  the  descrip- 
tion of  Tom  Sawyer  whitewashing  the  fence. 
There  we  have  it  vividly  depicted  how  a  mere  me- 
chanical labor,  a  toil,  a  drudgery,  a  monotonous 
grinding,  a  really  shameful  occupation  for  any  boy 
with  self-esteem,  according  to  Tom's  view-point, 

>idly  changes  its  character,  and  becomes  a  pleas- 
coveted  by  every  boy  in  the  town,  to  take  part 

which  they  gladly  give  up  their  treasures,  and 
this  simply  because  of  Tom's  ability  to  put  it  before 
them  in  a  new  light.  There  is  no  more  fun  in  mov- 


140         GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

ing  one's  arms,  legs,  or  body  in  this  way  or  that, 
than  there  is  in  whitewashing  a  fence.  Both  may, 
however,  be  made  immensely  interesting  to  the  av- 
erage child,  if  we  have  the  power  to  surround  them 
with  some  influences  which  hide  the  essential  char- 
acter of  work,  that  is  the  obligation  of  performance, 
and  make  it  appear  in  the  garb  of  pleasure.  A 
healthful,  pleasant,  joyful  spirit  must  fill  the  other- 
wise empty  forms. 

What  means  the  teacher  shall  employ  to  arouse 
and  maintain  the  interest  of  his  pupils,  to  awaken 
in  them  a  desire  to  take  part,  and  make  them  regret 
when  they,  from  some  reason  or  other,  are  obliged  to 
miss  a  lesson,  no  one  can  say  definitely.  It  lies 
with  the  individual  teacher.  It  depends  on  his 
personality.  The  very  best  teacher  is  unable  to 
give  a  prescription  suitable  for  another.  There  is 
no  highway  leading  to  success  except  the  one  we 
blaze  for  ourselves.  There  is  no  formula  to  be  fol- 
lowed, no  method  that  suits  all.  Method  there 
must  be.  But  not  a  cut  and  dried  one,  transferred 
from  one  individual  to  another.  The  method  you 
use  must  be  your  own.  All  that  can  be  said  is  that 
if  you  are  going  to  be  successful,  if  you  are  going 
to  carry  your  pupils  with  you,  you  must  let  the 
work  carry  you.  To  interest  others,  you  must  be 
interested  yourself.  You  must  put  your  soul  into 


CONSIDERATIONS  OF  METHOD     141 

the  work.  That  is  at  the  bottom  of  it, — your  soul. 
If  you  go  listlessly  and  carelessly  to  your  work,  it 
does  not  matter  how  deep  your  knowledge  may  be, 
it  does  not  matter  how  good  a  gymnast  you  may 
be,  your  class  will  dwindle  and  disappear,  if  a  vol- 
untary one;  will  feel  tired  and  fagged  out  at  the 
close  of  the  lesson  instead  of  being  refreshed,  if 
an  obligatory  one,  and  the  work  done  may  not  have 
been  half  the  quantity  it  might  have  been.  The 
pupils  have  come  to  you  seeking  bread;  you  have 
offered  them  stones. 

When  you  see  one  teacher  using  one  means  suc- 
cessfully, it  does  not  mean  that  the  same  method 
will  suit  you.  What  is  good  for  one  may  be  ruin- 
ous for  another.  Imitations  are  inferior  to  the 
model,  copies  to  the  original.  If  you  are  not  suc- 
cessful in  your  teaching  you  must  not  throw  the 
responsibility  for  your  lack  of  success  upon  those 
above  you,  who  have  refused  you  this  or  that  ex- 
ternal help.  The  main  source  of  interest  does  not 
lie  in  this  or  that  apparatus,  this  or  that  kind  of 
room;  it  lies  in  your  own  personality.  If  you  can- 
not make  that  personality  tell  upon  your  pupils, 
you  probably  could  not  use  the  means  you  seek.  A 
smile,  a  word  of  encouragement,  a  jest,  an  inflec- 
tion of  the  voice  judiciously  employed  may  make 
all  the  difference  between  success  and  failure. 


142          GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

Have  you  used  them?  Originality,  personality, 
individuality,  love, — these  make  the  good  teacher. 
And  they  cannot  be  transferred  from  one  to  an- 
other. 

But  we  are,  even  at  best,  pretty  imperfect  and 
need  well  to  draw  from  the  experiences  of  others. 
We  need  to  learn  from  each  other  and  to  see 
whether  the  means  used  by  somebody  else  would 
not  fit  us.  I  once  heard  one  teacher  say  that  she 
relied  quite  a  little  on  tea-parties  and  mothers' 
meetings.  I  do  not  think  that  that  would  suit  me. 
I  would  rather  have  children's  meetings  without  the 
tea.  The  means  recommended  can  never  be  pan- 
aceas. They  are  only  examples.  Of  them  you 
may  choose  one,  several,  or  none  according  to  your 
nature.  They  do  not  by  themselves  create  interest. 
You  may  be  successful  without  them.  You  may 
fail  with  them. 

One  such  means  commonly  recommended  and 
employed  in  this  country  is  musical  accompaniment 
to  the  exercises.  Nowhere  else  is  music  used  in  the 
gymnasium  so  extensively  as  in  the  United  States. 
The  Germans  use  it  far  less  than  the  Americans; 
the  Swedes  still  less  than  the  Germans.  But  no 
school  is  opposed  to  it  on  principle.  Music  has 
been  said  to  be  absolutely  condemned  by  the  Swed- 
ish gymnasts  as  an  accompaniment  to  exercises. 


CONSIDERATIONS  OF  METHOD     143 

That  is  not  true.  It  is  true,  however,  that  the 
Swedes  consider  music  to  be  very  much  abused,  and 
they  in  that  regard  have  the  support  of  the  Ger- 
mans, even  though  the  latter  do  not  go  so  far  in 
their  statements.  It  is,  however,  of  less  importance 
for  us  to  know  what  the  upholders  of  this  or  that 
system  believe  as  to  music,  than  to  establish  what 
are  the  actually  known  facts  as  to  its  influence. 

Music  has  been  known  from  time  immemorial 
as  a  stimulant  to  action,  and  also  as  an  agent  de- 
pressing the  motor  activities,  according  to  its 
various  nature.  It  does  not  matter  what  our  be- 
liefs may  be  as  to  its  usefulness  in  the  gymnasium. 
Its  strong  influence  upon  the  bodily  movements 
cannot  be  denied.  But  our  knowledge  is  rather 
indefinite.  Experiments  have  been  made,  but  their 
results  have  added  very  little  to  the  general  knowl- 
edge we  possessed  beforehand.  The  following 
facts  seem  to  be  more  or  less  definitely  estab- 
lished : 

(1.)  The  strength  of  the  muscular  contraction 
may  be  increased  by  any  sound  made  simultan- 
eously with  it. 

Thus  a  person  may  squeeze  a  dynamometer  with 

his  power  and  note  the  deflection  of  the  indi- 
itor.     If  now  a  gong  is  sounded,  or  a  note  struck 

the  piano  while  the  effort  is  made,  the  deflection 


144         GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

will  grow,  showing  advanced  intensity  of  con- 
traction. 

Observations  of  that  kind  are  mentioned  in  every 
hand-book  of  experimental  psychology,  and  may 
easily  be  verified  by  anybody. 

(2.)  The  increase  of  strength  thus  shown  is  not 
dependent  merely  on  the  existence  of  the  sound, 
but  on  its  intensity,  growing  with  the  latter.  Nu- 
merous experimenters  have  made  observations  on 
this. 

Fere,  for  instance,  placed  his  subject  at  different 
distances  from  a  tuning  fork,  thereby  varying  the 
intensity  of  the  sound,  and  found 

at  a  distance  of  8  meters  a  contraction  of  22  units ; 
at  a  distance  of  7  meters  a  contraction  of  22  units ; 
at  a  distance  of  6  meters  a  contraction  of  24  units ; 
at  a  distance  of  5  meters  a  contraction  of  29  units ; 
at  a  distance  of  4  meters  a  contraction  of  32  units ; 
at  a  distance  of  3  meters  a  contraction  of  35  units ; 
at  a  distance  of  2  meters  a  contraction  of  45  units ; 
at  a  distance  of  1  meter  a  contraction  of  48  units ; 
at  a  distance  of  0  meter  a  contraction  of  52  units ; 

These  experiments  by  Fere  as  also  those  the  re- 
sults of  which  are  given  in  the  next  table  were  made 
on  hysterical  patients,  which  no  doubt  explains  the 
great  discrepancy  in  the  strength  of  muscular  con- 


CONSIDERATIONS  OF  METHOD     145 

traction  under  varying  nervous  influences.  It  is 
safe  to  assume  that  experiments  on  persons  with 
greater  nervous  stability  would  give  very  much  less 
marked  results,  though  we  have  many  indications 
which  should  make  us  expect  results  in  the  same 
directions. 

(3.)  The  intensity  of  the  contraction  is  also  a 
function  of  the  pitch.  The  intensity  of  the  sound 
remaining  unchanged,  Fere  found  the  following 
variations  from  the  use  of  one  octave : 

Ut  2  gave  a  muscular  contraction  of  26  units ; 
Re  2  gave  a  muscular  contraction  of  27  units ; 
Mi2  gave  a  muscular  contraction  of  28  units; 
Fa  2  gave  a  muscular  contraction  of  28  units ; 
Sol  2  gave  a  muscular  contraction  of  31  units ; 
La  2  gave  a  muscular  contraction  of  35  units ; 
Si  2  gave  a  muscular  contraction  of  38  units ; 
Ut  3  gave  a  muscular  contraction  of  45  units ; 

a  fairly  uniform  increase  with  the  growing  number 
of  vibrations. 

(4.)  A  sound  simultaneous  with  a  muscular  con- 

f  action  not  only  increases  its  intensity,  but  also 
)stpones  the  moment  when  further  contraction 
iconics  impossible  because  of  fatigue. 
If  our  dynamometer  has  been  arranged  in  such 
manner  that  instead  of  registering  merely  the 


146         GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

maximum  pressure,  its  variations  from  time  to  time 
are  recorded,  it  has  been  found  that 

(5.)  The  steadiness  of  muscular  contraction 
suffers  considerably  from  any  outside  stimulus. 

The  increase  of  strength  noted  under  the  first 
four  headings  may  perhaps  be  explained  as  a  result 
of  the  summation  of  the  stimuli.  The  fluttering 
and  unsteadiness  is  probably  due  to  a  diversion  of 
the  attention  from  the  action  to  the  outside 
stimulus. 

As  to  attention  and  its  influence  on  the  move- 
ment, we  know  certain  things  definitely.  The 
psychologists  have  expressed  it  in  the  phrase  "A 
movement  thought  is  a  movement  begun."  In 
physiological  terms,  we  may  express  it  in  several 
ways.  For  instance,  "muscular  contraction  of  a 
certain  part  causes  an  arterial  afflux  to  that  part." 
The  mere  thinking  of  the  movement,  the  focussing 
of  the  attention  on  it,  has  the  same  effect,  though 
to  a  less  degree.  A  movement  of  my  arm  increases 
its  sensory  power.  But  so  does  the  mere  thinking 
of  the  movement.  This  is  well  known  to  psychol- 
ogists. Attention  to  a  movement  decreases  the 
reaction  time,  increases  the  strength,  and  increases 
the  resistance  to  fatigue.  All  this  under  the  sup- 
position that  the  attention  be  not  unduly  pro- 
longed. In  that  case,  the  opposite  phenomena 


CONSIDERATIONS  OF  METHOD     147 

appear.  To  make  strong  movements  we  must  at- 
tend to  them.  Any  influence  which  attracts  the 
attention  from  the  movement  decreases  its  physio- 
logical effects.  Now  we  know  that 

(6.)  Music  attracts  the  attention  from  the 
movement. 

This,  which  I  allege  to  be  a  proved  fact,  is  dis- 
claimed by  many.  It  is  said,  "Practically  there  is 
little  basis  for  this  statement.  Many  teachers  have 
found  that  greater  attention  is  given  the  exercises 
because  of  the  music  and  the  rhythmic  demand 
created  by  it."  It  is  easily  understood  that  those 
who  use  music  should  believe  so.  This  belief  is  the 
reason  why  they  employ  it.  I  believe,  however, 
that  the  discrepancy  between  us  is  due  to  the  fact 
that  we  do  not  use  words  in  the  same  sense.  There 
are  two  factors  which  enter  into  the  execution  of  a 
movement:  its  form  and  its  time.  No  one  denies 
that  the  music  enables  the  pupils  to  follow  a  given 
rhythm  more  easily  if  this  rhythm  is  punctuated 
by  accompaniment.  But  this  stronger  attention 
drawn  to  the  time-element  we  claim  diverts  and 
destroys  the  attention  to  the  form.  The  matter 
for  us  to  decide  is,  then:  Which  is  the  more  im- 
portant factor  in  a  given  exercise,  its  form  or  the 
time  in  which  it  should  be  executed? 

(7.)  We  know  that  melodies  affect  movements 


148         GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

differently,  according  to  the  intervals  in  the  octave, 
— those  in  the  major  key  being  stimulating,  those 
in  the  minor  key  being  motor  depressing.  Though 
investigations  show  that  the  main  influence  prob- 
ably is  that  of  pitch,  already  noted,  varying  inter- 
vals probably  have  some  effects.  Scripture  ex- 
erted a  maximum  pressure  of  eight  pounds  during 
silence,  which  was  increased  to  eight  and  three- 
quarter  pounds  under  the  influence  of  the  giants' 
motive  from  the  Rheingold,  and  decreased  to  seven 
and  a  half  pounds  by  the  slumber  motive  from  the 
Walkiire. 

These  are  practically  all  the  facts,  which  have 
been  established,  regarding  the  influence  of  music 
on  exercises.  They  are  brought  forth  here,  not  to 
serve  as  the  basis  for  deductions,  but  to  emphasize 
the  results  of  our  inductive  experience. 

What  are  these  experiences? 

(1.)  A  movement  may  be  strengthened,  ex- 
ecuted with  more  force,  if  a  sound  is  made  simul- 
taneous with  it.  This  beneficial  influence  may  be 
exerted  by  a  word,  a  shout,  a  yell,  as  well  as  by  a 
musical  note.  It  is  recognized  by  many  an  ath- 
letic trainer,  who  just  at  the  moment  when  the 
student  takes  off  in  a  pole  vault,  in  a  jump,  or  sim- 
ilar event,  shouts  an  encouraging  "lift,"  "up!" 
"get  over!"  or  something  of  that  nature.  It  is 


FIG.  30. 

A  type  of  activity  in  which  the  ribs  are  held  elevated  while  the 
abdominal  wall  is  strengthened.     (See  page  53.) 


CONSIDERATIONS  OF  METHOD     149 

found  beneficial  in  a  series  of  exercises,  say  of  six 
to  eight  count,  all  to  be  executed  successively  on 
one  command,  that  the  teacher  occasionally  in  the 
middle  of  the  series  suddenly  counts  "five,"  "six." 
This  beneficial  effect  which  corresponds  to  our  first 
established  fact  is  more  pronounced  if  given  sud- 
denly and  unexpectedly.  Hence  melodies  played 
on  an  instrument  will  not  serve  this  purpose  as  well 
as  words,  hand-clapping,  or  stamping.  Music 
therefore  is  undesirable. 

(2.)  For  the  majority  of  exercises  the  form  is 
of  the  utmost  importance  if  best  results  shall  be 
gained.  If  the  form  be  violated,  totally  different 
effects  from  those  expected  may  result.  Full  at- 
tention must  therefore  be  given  the  form  and  only 
when  the  form  is  thoroughly  ingrained  and  has 
become  habitual  can  the  greater  part  of  the  atten- 
tion be  focussed  on  the  time  element.  Music  re- 
verses this  condition.  It  is  impossible  to  make,  for 
instance,  a  trunkbending  backward  with  feet  sep- 
arated and  arms  extended  upward  in  the  form 
which  we  consider  the  best  one,  to  the  accompani- 
ment of  music.  It  may  of  course  be  retorted  that 
any  form  of  exercise  which  does  not  adapt  itself 
to  a  rhythmic  execution  is  because  of  that  very  fact 
an  erroneous  one.  But  I,  for  one,  consider  that 
this  is  begging  the  question. 


150         GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

(3.)  Whenever  special  stress  shall  be  laid  on  the 
time  element  of  exercises  which  naturally  adapt 
themselves  to  a  rhythmical  execution,  music  is  of 
decided  benefit.  This  is  the  case  with  marches  and 
running.  They  are  naturally  rhythmical.  They 
shall  be  performed  in  definite  form  to  be  sure,  but 
they  are  necessary  or  at  least  desirable  at  such  an 
early  stage  that  the  pupils  have  not  as  yet  acquired 
that  amount  of  physical  education  which  expresses 
itself  in  proper  carriage,  the  maintenance  of  the 
straight  ranks,  the  exact  distances  between  the 
individuals.  If  for  no  other  purpose  than  to  move 
the  pupils  from  place  to  place  in  the  Gymnasium, 
or  to  relieve  the  tedium  of  being  confined  to  one 
place  on  the  floor,  marches  should  be  used  already 
in  the  first  lesson.  To  impress  the  time,  music  may 
well  be  used  then,  if  the  march  be  somewhat  pro- 
longed. 

But  it  is  a  decided  mistake  always  to  use  music 
in  marches  and  running.  It  is  desirable  also  to 
habituate  the  pupils  to  maintain  the  time  element 
without  that  assistance.  If  we  always  rely  upon 
the  accompaniment,  we  make  the  pupils  unable  to 
maintain  an  even  rhythm  without  it;  we  educate 
them  for  artificial  conditions,  which  we  have  cre- 
ated in  the  Gymnasium,  not  for  the  natural  condi- 
tions of  daily  life,  where  we  are  to  walk  without 


CONSIDERATIONS  OF  METHOD     151 

music,  and  where  we  ought  to  do  it  in  a  suitable 
rhythm  in  order  to  avoid  unnecessary  expenditure 
of  energy. 

(4.)  Music  is  furthermore  of  value  in  such  exer- 
cises where  the  form  has  been  so  thoroughly  incor- 
porated in  the  nervous  mechanism  that  no  attention 
whatever  need  be  paid  to  it,  because  it  cannot  be 
changed  without  a  special  effort  of  will,  it  has  be- 
come second  nature.  That  is  the  case  in  the 
marches  and  running  of  the  well  trained  gymnasts. 
Here  the  music  is  not  needed  for  the  sake  of  the 
rhythm.  Its  value  lies  in  its  general  stimulating 
influence.  The  influence  which  we  saw  the  giants 
motive  from  the  Rheingold  gave  Professor  Scrip- 
ture. That  was  the  influence  that  the  Marseillaise 
gave  the  French  revolutionists.  That  was  the 
benefit  our  soldiers  received  from  "John  Brown" 
and  "Marching  Through  Georgia."  That  is  the 
value  of  music  at  our  balls,  the  frequenters  of  which 
under  this  influence  do  an  amount  of  work  which 
is  many  times  as  great  as  that  which  would  be  pos- 
sible without  it. 

If  we  are  utilizing  memorized  drills  of  any  kind, 
such  as  are  frequent  in  Gymnastics  with  Indian 
Clubs,  dumb-bells,  wands,  or  other  portable  ap- 
paratus, in  fancy  steps,  dances,  etc.,  and  the  forms 
have  been  mastered  to  such  a  degree  that  no  serious 


152         GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

mistakes  are  committed,  music  may  well  be  used 
for  the  same  purpose. 

(5.)  Music  may  furthermore  be  used  with  ad- 
vantage in  such  exercises,  which,  though  not  neces- 
sarily rhythmic  in  character,  are  more  or  less 
consecutive,  and  of  a  nature  which  brings  them 
somewhat  close  to  applied  Gymnastics  in  a  nar- 
rower sense,  to  sports,  and  games,  and  play.  Such 
are  a  number  of  exercises  on  the  parallel  and 
horizontal  bars,  tumbling,  climbing,  vaulting,  etc. 
This  group  approaches  closely  the  memorized  drills 
just  spoken  of.  In  their  completed  forms  they  do 
not  consist  of  distinct  well  defined  movements 
following  each  other  in  a  given  cadence  but  one 
movement  imperceptibly  passes  over  into  the  suc- 
ceeding one.  It  is  not  possible  then  that  the 
rhythm  of  the  music  shall  impress  itself  upon  the 
exercise,  destroying  its  form,  but  by  the  general 
stimulus  gained,  more  strength  will  be  developed 
in  the  execution,  more  endurance,  more  general 
ability. 

One  writer  who  did  not  recommend  the  daily  use 
of  music  in  Gymnastics  defended  it  in  exhibition 
work  upon  the  plea  that  "when  the  Gymnastic  work 
of  the  school  room  or  the  Gymnasium  is  to  be  ex- 
hibited before  the  public  eye,  it  must  be  presented 
in  a  different  way  from  that  of  the  every  day 


CONSIDERATIONS  OF  METHOD     153 

routine,"  in  a  manner  which  is  more  pleasing  and 
attractive.  This  is  a  view  which  ought  to  be 
deprecated.  It  savors  too  much  of  the  circus  or 
the  vaudeville  stage.  When  work  is  shown  to  the 
public  it  should  be  shown  exactly  as  it  is  taught. 
It  should  be  a  sample  of  the  routine  work.  It 
should  not  be  specially  prepared,  and  decked  out 
in  ornaments  to  attract  by  false  pretenses.  The 
Gymnastic  material  should  not  be  arranged  any 
more  "thoughtfully  and  artistically,"  during  ex- 
hibitions than  during  the  every  day  lesson.  The 
lesson  is  of  more  importance  than  the  exhibition, 
as  the  pupil  is  of  more  importance  than  the  on- 
looker. Nothing  extra  must  be  taken  into  consid- 
eration to  produce  the  desired  effect  upon  the 
latter.  The  public  should  be  made  welcome  to  see 
the  work  as  it  is  actually  given.  If  they  demand 
anything  but  that,  they  should  be  referred  to  the 
circus,  where  everything  is  done  to  supply  a  feast 
for  their  eyes. 

Music  has  thus  a  definite  though  limited  value 
in  the  Gymnasium.  We  have  hitherto  spoken  of 
instrumental  music.  The  question  still  remains  to 
be  considered  whether  vocal  music  has  any  place  in 
the  Gymnasium.  The  question  is  legitimate  in  as 
much  as  some  teachers  allow  their  pupils  to  sing 
during  their  exercises.  Without  entering  into  a 


154         GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

lengthy  discussion  of  the  matter,  we  may  easily 
agree  that  song  is  unsuitable  for  all  such  exercises 
for  which  instrumental  music  is  out  of  place.  And 
its  benefits  are  further  limited.  It  may  profitably 
be  employed  in  marches  and  certain  consecutive 
rhythmic  exercises,  like  the  milder  forms  of  folk 
dances,  certain  games  for  children,  etc.  But  as  we 
should  make  the  demands  that  the  respiration  must 
be  free  and  unhampered  during  the  exercises,  it 
must  not  be  employed  in  any  exercises  involving 
effort,  nor  in  any  where  the  movements  of  arms  or 
trunk  make  special  demands  on  the  thoracic  dila- 
tation. To  recommend  singing  with  wrestling  and 
boxing  as  one  Hollander  has  done,  seems  to  be  pass- 
ing into  the  realm  of  absurdities. 

At  least  one  director,  whom  I  personally  know, 
and  whom  I  consider,  as  a  rule,  well  defends  her 
position  in  the  front  rank  of  our  profession,  has 
recommended,  that  one  part  of  the  class  shall  sing 
while  the  rest  work.  If  this  be  intended  as  a  rare 
occurrence,  if  it  be  done  once  in  a  month  or  so  to 
add  zest  to  the  work,  no  criticism  can  be  offered. 
Any  occasional  variation  is  permissible.  But  we 
are  constantly  agitating  for  the  extension  of  the 
time  to  be  devoted  to  Gymnastics.  What  then 
shall  be  said  about  any  method  which  encroaches 
upon  the  admittedly  too  short  time  given  us.  It  is 


CONSIDERATIONS  OF  METHOD     155 

our  unquestionable  duty  to  utilize  every  possible 
minute  for  Gymnastic  exercises.  To  more  or  less 
habitually  set  aside  part  of  the  time  for  other  pur- 
poses must  not  be  permitted,  though  these  purposes 
may  be  ever  so  desirable.  Our  pupils  must  be  given 
Gymnastics  during  the  whole  period  set  aside  by 
the  school  authorities  for  that  purpose.  It  now 
happens  in  every  class  there  is  some  time  when  a 
part  of  the  class  is  not  engaged  in  active  exercises. 
But  this  time  must  be  minimized.  The  class  may 
be  divided  up  in  sections,  each  to  be  engaged  in  a 
different  way,  and  if  it  is  more  or  less  impossible 
to  keep  all  at  work  at  the  same  time,  the  lesson 
should  be  so  arranged,  that  the  inactivity  falls  at 
such  times  when  a  physical  rest  is  necessary.  This 
is  when  the  respiration  has  become  somewhat 
labored,  and  singing  exercises  then  are  decidedly 
objectionable. 

Another  means  recommended  for  the  purpose  of 
maintaining  the  interest  of  the  pupils  is  frequent 
changes  of  the  exercises.  No  one  can  remain 
interested  in  constant  repetitions  of  the  same  exer- 
cises. Education  means  steady  progress.  The 
human  mind  is  so  constituted  that  it  yearns  for  new 
experiences,  and  newness  is  in  itself  interest  evok- 
ing. The  child  and  the  adult  are  alike  in  this 
respect.  We  frequently  find  the  child  repeating 


156         GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

over  and  over  again  the  same  movements,  just  as 
we  frequently  find  when  we  have  told  a  story  to 
a  child,  that  we  are  met  with  a  "Tell  it  again." 
Professor  Preyer's  child  took  off  and  replaced  the 
lid  of  a  box  seventy-nine  times  in  succession.  Dr. 
Gulick's  baby  dropped  a  block  from  his  table  to 
the  floor  some  one  hundred  times,  I  think,  the  father 
replacing  it  each  time.  We  all  have  had  some  such 
experience.  But  these  exercises  are  not  ordered, 
forced,  commanded,  directed.  They  are  spon- 
taneous. If  we  should  endeavor  to  make  a  child 
repeat  an  exercise  as  frequently,  we  would  utterly 
fail.  This  simply  means  that  formal  gymnastic 
movements  directed  in  every  detail  are  unsuitable 
for  the  small  child  because  the  child's  interest  can- 
not be  knitted  to  them.  Gradually,  however,  there 
can  and  should  be  introduced  in  the  activity  of  the 
child  more  and  more  formality.  This  change  must 
not  be  sudden.  It  must  be  a  slow  process.  We 
should  certainly  not  drop  the  spontaneous  play  and 
begin  with  a  half  hour  or  a  quarter  hour  gymnastic 
lesson.  Play  must  be  a  prominent  part  of  the  first 
lessons  and  it  should  recede  for  the  more  formal 
work  very  slowly.  And  in  the  formal  elements  of 
the  lesson,  there  must  of  course  be  more  freedom 
than  for  adults.  And  there  must  be  great  variety, 
as  great  a  variety  as  possible. 


CONSIDERATIONS  OF  METHOD    157 

In  the  adult,  appeal  may  be  made  to  indirect  and 
remote  interests,  but  the  direct  interest  due  to  new- 
ness wanes  in  him  even  more  rapidly  than  in  the 
child,  so  that  it  is  desirable  to  supply  him  also  with 
a  great  variety. 

Gymnastic  exercises  are  of  such  great  number, 
however,  that  no  teacher  master  of  his  subject  need 
fear  running  short  of  material.  The  principle  of 
gymnastic  selection  of  course  bars  out  a  large  num- 
ber of  possible  movements.  But,  as  Ling  ex- 
pressed it,  "Even  the  most  careful  selection  of  the 
most  effective  and  most  suitable  exercises  is  erron- 
eous, if  it  puts  too  narrow  limits  to  the  material." 

The  young  teacher  is  apt  to  vacillate  between 
two  extremes  in  this  regard,  both  equally  injurious. 
He  is  either  so  diffident  about  using  forms,  which 
have  not  been  used  by  his  teacher,  for  fear  of  caus- 
ing injury  by  erroneous  selection,  that  he  does  not 
strike  out  for  himself  in  any  new  direction  but 
keeps  in  the  path  trodden  by  him  under  the  direc- 
tion of  his  teacher.  Or  finding  the  interest  fading 
from  some  reason  or  other,  he  begins  an  ever  end- 
ing chase  for  new  forms,  which  sooner  or  later 
wrecks  him  on  the  rock  of  all  possibility. 

Whatever  method  we  use  in  teaching,  it  is  a 
fundamental  condition  for  success  that  there  must 
be  interest,  joy,  and  pleasure  in  the  lesson.  But 


158         GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

this  is  a  condition  for  success  only,  it  is  not  the  end 
in  view.  We  must  not  base  our  methods  solely  on 
a  search  for  pleasure.  We  shall  work  for  a  richer, 
pleasanter,  happier  life.  But  life  is  not  all  pleas- 
ure. It  is  a  mixture  of  good  and  evil.  And  our 
schools,  and  gymnasia  should  be  miniature  repre- 
sentations of  life.  If  we  only  seek  pleasure  in  our 
gymnasia,  we  tend  to  unfit  our  pupils  for  the 
seriousness  of  life.  Let  us  strive  for  a  feeling  of 
pleasure  in  making  efforts,  efforts  even  in  over- 
coming that  which  is  unpleasant,  but  do  not  let  us 
avoid  the  efforts  themselves.  These  we  shall  seek. 
It  is  the  overcoming  of  obstacles  in  life  for  which 
we  work.  It  is  to  prepare  for  the  serious  business 
of  life  that  the  gymnasium  exists.  Our  youth  must 
be  habituated  to  look  seriously  at  life,  at  any  task 
put  before  them.  Let  us  by  all  means  make  the 
paths  they  must  travel  so  easy  that  they  do  not  get 
discouraged  by  failures.  Let  us  surround  them  by 
sunshine.  Sunshine  flooding  in  into  the  innermost 
depths  of  their  souls.  But  do  not  let  us  seek  the 
sunshine  merely  in  order  to  sit  down  in  it.  Let  us 
seek  it  for  the  invigorating  influence  it  has  upon 
us,  in  order  that  we  may  do  more,  not  less.  Let 
the  interest  pervade  everything  we  do.  But  let  us 
not  for  the  sake  of  the  interest  forget  our  duties  as 
teachers  and  guides.  Let  us  remember  that  we 


CONSIDERATIONS  OF  METHOD     159 

should  decide  what  the  pupils  should  do,  when  they 
should  do  it  and  how.  In  other  words  let  us  main- 
tain discipline.  That  is  the  second  general  demand 
which  we  make  upon  the  methods.  Discipline  is 
necessary,  and  a  very  strict  discipline  at  that.  But 
not  a  discipline  of  the  kind  to  which  the  old  world 
soldier  must  submit,  which  blots  out  the  individual- 
ity of  the  man  and  makes  of  him  a  mere  automaton 
responding  to  the  commands  of  his  superior  without 
thought,  feeling  or  will.  It  must  be  a  discipline  in 
a  higher  sense,  a  self-willed  submission  to  reason- 
able authority.  The  former  kind  of  discipline, 
despotism,  tyranny,  bossism,  is  incompatible  with 
interest,  incompatible  with  development  and 
growth,  incompatible  with  education.  The  latter, 
on  the  other  hand,  cannot  only  be  combined  with 
interest,  but  is  a  result  of  interest,  it  is  in  itself  a 
growth  and  development,  an  education.  It  is  valu- 
able not  only  because  it  permits  us  to  do  systematic 
work.  Such  may  be  done  under  autocratism  but 
while  the  latter  clK)kes  what  human  traits  exist  in 
the  pupil,  the  former  cares  for  them  and  nurses 
them  to  their  full  development.  To  differentiate 
between  these  two  kinds  of  discipline,  to  keep  the 
one  on  the  highest  possible  level,  while  avoiding  the 
other  like  the  plague,  should  be  the  constant  en- 
deavor of  the  teacher.  It  might  seem  unnecessary 


160         GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

to  make  this  statement.  It  ought  to  be  self  evi- 
dent. But  it  is  necessary  as  long  as  there  are  many 
who  sin  against  it. 

Education  means  the  bringing  up  of  the  indi- 
vidual to  the  highest  possible  degree  of  efficiency, 
so  that  he  may  be  able  to  actualize  his  latent  powers. 
But  it  does  not  strive  for  the  actualization  of  these 
powers  in  any  and  all  directions,  but  in  certain 
definite  directions.  It  means  not  only  the  rearing 
of  power  but  bridling  it,  guiding  it  into  channels 
which  lead  to  a  desirable  goal,  preventing  it  from 
overflowing  into  others.  The  skilful,  intelligent 
criminal  has  power  in  abundance.  It  is  only  mis- 
directed. We  must  rightly  guide  those  under  our 
care.  Hartwell  expresses  it,  "We  must  work 
towards  the  formation  of  proper  habits  of  action." 

But  habit  is  the  result  of  repetition,  of  doing  over 
and  over  again  the  same  thing,  until  the  nervous 
processes  involved  have  grooved  out  their  paths  of 
least  resistance  so  well  marked  off  from  other  pos- 
sible tracks,  that  no  overflow  of  nerve  current  can 
take  place  into  them  except  when  volition  by  a 
special  effort  opens  the  sluice  gates.  We  should 
carefully  scrutinize  the  possibilities  and  make  our 
selection  of  gymnastic  forms  with  the  most  rigid 
attention  to  the  results  which  we  wish  to  reach. 
When  once  we  have  chosen  our  means,  the  exercise, 


CONSIDERATIONS  OF  METHOD     161 

as  being  the  best  among  all  possible  ones  for  a 
definite  purpose,  then  we  must  insist  upon  the  ut- 
most possible  precision  in  the  execution,  and  we 
must  stick  to  it  through  thick  and  thin,  remember- 
ing that  every  little  deviation  from  the  ideal  makes 
less  likely  and  less  rapid  the  formation  of  the  best 
habit  as  we  understand  it,  and  that  it  paves  the  way 
for  incorrect  habits.  Precision  is  the  third  funda- 
mental condition  for  success  which  must  be  fulfilled 
by  our  methods. 

This  does  not  imply  that  absolute  perfection  shall 
or  can  be  demanded  from  the  very  first.  If  the 
pupils  can  do  the  exercise  perfectly,  it  shows  that 
they  already  possess  the  physical  education  repre- 
sented by  these  exercises,  and  that  repetition  of 
them  would  be  of  small  value  for  future  develop- 
ment. They  would  mainly  serve  as  means  to  retain 
the  development  already  attained.  But  we  must 
bring  on  a  higher  and  ever  higher  development. 
This  comes  only  from  effort.  Effort  to  reach  just 
a  short  step  beyond  that  which  we  now  can  do  to 
perfection.  The  teacher  must  carefully  avoid  two 
opposite  pit  falls.  He  must  not  constantly  drill 
and  drill  the  pupils  in  such  exercises  as  can  be  per- 
formed with  ease.  But  he  must  make  the  advance- 
ment into  new  fields  so  gradual,  that  the  pupil  feels 
that  there  is  needed  just  a  little  more  effort  to  land 


162          GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

him  where  he  wants  to  be.  The  precision  in  the 
new  exercises  shall  be  nearly  perfect.  What  this 
"nearly  perfect"  means  must  be  decided  by  the 
pedagogic  tact  of  the  teacher.  In  the  gymnasium 
as  everywhere  else  there  are  essentials  and  less  es- 
sentials. Greater  precision  must  of  course  be  de- 
manded in  the  former  than  in  the  latter.  The  diffi- 
culty lies  in  determining  what  is  essential,  and  what 
is  less  so. 

A  concrete  example  of  essential  and  less  essen- 
tial features :  When  the  body  is  in  the  fundamental 
standing  posture  with  the  arms  in  the  shoulder  plane 
and  extended  above  the  head  as  high  as  possible,  the 
posture  is  called  the  stretch  standing  posture.  It 
will  be  noticed  that  there  are  three  distinct  condi- 
tions which  must  be  fulfilled  by  the  pupil  in  assum- 
ing this  posture.  But  of  these  two  are  absolute,  the 
third  is  relative.  Absolute  demand  is  made  for  the 
retention  of  the  body  in  the  fundmental  posture 
and  for  the  arms  being  in  the  shoulder  plane. 
These  are  the  essentials  of  the  posture.  To  what 
height  the  arms  are  brought  depends  on  the  ability 
of  the  pupil.  "As  high  as  possible."  This  includes 
of  course  another  absolute  demand,  a  demand  for 
effort.  That  is  always  an  essential.  If  a  pupil  can 
bring  the  arms  to  parallelism,  without  changing 
the  posture  of  the  body  and  without  allowing  the 


•'. 


H  1 

s  I 


FIG.  34. 

The  beneficial  effects  of  trunk  bending  backward  are  lost  unless 
it  is  performed  correctly.  (Compare  with  Fig.  15.  See 
page  85.) 


CONSIDERATIONS  OF  METHOD     163 

arms  to  go  in  front  of  the  shoulders  he  must  do  so. 
It  is  the  ideal  to  which  we  strive.  Nothing  less 
should  be  demanded  from  him.  But  if  he  cannot 
reach  parallelism,  a  certain  amount  of  divergence 
is  permissible.  We  seek  to  gain  a  definite  form  but 
the  form  is  not  sought  for  itself.  It  is  only  the 
means  by  which  we  hope  to  gain  certain  effects. 
The  chief  effect  which  we  wish  to  get  from  this 
posture  is  a  tension  in  the  tissues  running  from  the 
front  side  of  the  thorax  to  the  arms  combined  with 
contraction  of  those  on  the  hind  aspect,  which  shall 
result  in  increased  mobility  of  the  chest  and  greater 
control  of  the  shoulder  girdle.  We  gain  those  best 
by  the  absolute  demand  for  the  two  features  and 
effort  in  the  third. 

One  writer  has  expressed  the  value  which  he  at- 
taches to  precision  by  saying  that  precision  is  neces- 
sary in  order  "to  give  pedagogic  value  to  work." 
Another  writer  disapproves  this,  saying  that  "It  is 
difficult  to  appreciate  what  is  meant  by  'pedagogic 
value.'  The  term  has  rather  more  sound  than  sig- 
nificance." I  believe  on  the  contrary  that  this 
phrase  has  the  greatest  significance.  It  means  to 
me  a  recognition  that  slip  shod  work  is  destruc- 
tive instead  of  developmental.  It  means  a  recog- 
nition of  the  well-known  fact  that  nervous  impulses 
during  a  low  stage  of  development  tend  to  diffuse 


164          GYMNASTIC  PROBLEMS 

themselves  over  large  areas,  and  that  the  higher 
stages  are  marked  by  proper  localization.  It  recog- 
nizes that  attention  and  will  are  necessary  in  learn- 
ing new  movements.  It  means  that  he  who  con- 
sciously endeavors  to  do  a  thing  as  near  to  the 
ideal  put  before  him  as  possible  will  secure  benefits 
in  being  habituated  always  to  doing  his  best.  It 
means  that  there  will  be  no  necessity  of  reeducat- 
ing an  individual  for  the  purpose  of  effacing  errors 
which  have  become  ingrained  by  practice.  Preci- 
sion is  necessary  to  gain  the  best  physical  effects, 
and  without  precision  practically  no  psychic  devel- 
opment results  from  the  exercises.  The  selection 
of  forms  differs  according  to  the  system  we  believe 
in,  according  to  the  standard  we  have  chosen,  ac- 
cording to  the  principles  which  move  us.  But  there 
must  be  a  selection  of  forms  which  seem  to  us  best 
for  our  purpose.  To  demand  precision  in  these 
is  absolutely  necessary. 

Whatever  our  methods,  how  different  they  may 
be  according  to  our  different  personalities,  they 
must  all  have  these  three  characteristics  in  common : 
they  must  create  and  maintain  interest;  they  must 
create  and  maintain  discipline ;  they  must  recognize 
the  value  of  precision. 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

RENEWALS  ONLY— TEL.  NO.  642-3405 
This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

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